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The Consolations of Death 
In Ancient Greek Literature 


By Ὑὴ 6 Van 
SISTER MARY EVARISTUS, M.A. 
a 
of 


THE SISTERS OF CHARITY, HALIFAX, N. 8. 


A DISSERTATION 


Submitted to the Catholic Sisters College of the Catholi 
University of America in Partial Fulfillment 
of the Requirements for the Degree 
Doctor of Philosophy 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


τ ὙΠῸ εχ OE OR i on aa ys ἘΕΥΓΕΡΟ-. 


CHAPTER I 


Tue INEVITABLENESS OF DEATH ......... ras 
Universality of death a motive for consolation. Views 
of death in Homer. Homeric epithets for death. No 
power can ward off death. Consolation afforded by the 
thought that it cannot come before the appointed time. 

. Inevitableness of death as depicted in the Lyric Poets, 
_ Tragedians, Plato, Lysias, Apollonius Rhodius, ps.- 
Plutarch, Plutarch. 


CHAPTER II 


Oruers Have Hap To Die. 7 ig ΩΣ ἐς iat 
Treatment οὗ. τόπος in Homer. οὕ σοι μόνῳ Tragic 
Poets, Plutarch, ps.-Plutarch. Examples of those who 
have borne sufferings nobly. Extension of réros. Even 
better men have died. 


CHAPTER ΠῚ 


DeatH THE Payment or A Dest To Nature 
Should not complain when loan is claimed. Simonides 
of Ceos. Euripides. Plato. ps.-Plutarch. 


CHAPTER IV 


Deatu Nor To BE REGARDED AS UNEXPECTED . . 
Nothing ought to appear unexpected. Meditation on 
death will rob it of its terrors and fears. ἀπάθεια 
Sophocles. Euripides. μελέτη θανάτου of Plato. Socrates’ 
attitude towards death. Plutarch’s treatment of τόπος. 
ps.-Plutarch. 


CHAPTER V 


DeatH A RELEASE FROM SORROWS . . 

Miseries of life. Homer. Hesiod. Pindar. Inconstancy 
of Fortune. Crantor. Life a punishment. Better not to 
have been born. Death a blessing, a remedy for evils. 
Treatment of τόπος by Tragedians. Story of Xerxes. 
Views of Epicharmus, Arcesilaus, Hegesias, Alcidamas, 
Prodicus of Ceos. Consolation for mourners. Used by 
Socrates, Lucian, ps.-Plutarch. Death a_ peaceful 
sleep. Socratic argument. Death the end of a journey. 
Socrates. ps.-Plutarch. 


aReotrnn 


19 = 


26 


28 


31 


> τὸν τς: The Consolations of Death 


CHAPTER VI 


Dratu BrerorE Sorrow Has Come ConsiperepD A Boon . 40 

Untimely death. Pathos of early death. Consolation 
of family ties. Misfortune for parents to survive their 
children. ‘Those who die early have escaped many mis- 
fortunes. Many would have been saved from great 
calamities if they had met an earlier death. Story of 
Termaeus of Elysia. “Troilus wept less than Priam.” 
Early death mark of favor of the gods. Not longest life, 
but most virtuous, is best. Life short compared with 
eternity. 


CHAPTER VII 


ΒΑΡ Do Not SurFr&R FROM THE Loss oF Lirr’s BLEssINGs . 44 
Apprehension that the dead feel the loss of the pleasures 
of this life removed by consolers. Plutarch. Socrates. 


CHAPTER VIII 


Comrort DERIVED FROM GIVING EXPRESSION TO GRIEF. . 45 
Crantor’s consolation. View taken by Homer. Stoic 
objection. Uselessness of grief. Used as a consolation 
in Homer, in Tragic Poets. Archilochus. Letter to 
Xanthippe. Display of grief unbecoming. Euripides. 
Plato. ps.-Plutarch. Evil effects of grief. μηδὲν 
ἄγαν. Moderation treated by Plato, Plutarch. Incon- 
sistency of Stoics. Plutarch ad Uxorem. _ ps.-Plutarch. 
γνῶθι σαυτόν. Grief is not pleasing to the dead. 


CHAPTER IX 


CONSOLATION THROUGH RECOLLECTION OF Past Joys . . 54 
Memory of past pleasure should help dissipate grief. 
Recollection of blessings still possessed. Effect of time. 


CHAPTER X 


IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. . . ΡΟΝ 
Belief among the Greeks in a future life. Pindar, 
Sophocles. Euripides. Vagueness of the idea of im- 
mortality. Used as a consolation by Plato, ps.-Plato, 
ps.-Plutarch. 


CHAPTER XI 


τε τς Dears os: . 60 
Renown as an incentive. Death when " prosperous. 
Death in performance of a noble action. Story of Cleo- 
bus and Biton. Alcestis. Death for country. Patriot- 
ism of Greeks. Effect. Funeral orations. Subject of 
orations. τόποι of consolation. Children belong pri- 


In Avcient Greek Literature 


marily tothe state. Iphigenia. Battle song of Tyrtaeus. 
ps.-Platonic Epistle. Demosthenes. Sacrifice of life 
payment of debt to country. Death of hero increases 
the glory of the state. Most glorious and noble of 
deaths. A mark of favor of the gods. Hero receives due 
rites of burial, imperishable glory, and immortal renown. 
He leaves a glorious heritage. Patriot is welcomed by 
his brave ancestors and honored by the gods. State as- 
sumes charge of families. Words of comfort from the 


deceased. ; 
CHAPTER ΧΗ 


CONSOLATION APPROPRIATE TO P ARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES 


Epicurus. Pericles. Cyrus. Music as a means of 
consolation. 


ΝΕ ey ean mc ee eae ene εξ ee a Pe ee a ee 


79 


In Ancient Greek Literature 7 


INTRODUCTION 


“The whole life of man is full of griefs, nor is there rest from 
toils,’’! exclaims Euripides, and again: “There is no nature of man 
so obdurate which on hearing thy groans and the long plaints of 
misery would not let fall the tear.”? These two sentiments to 
which Euripides has given expression are the source of a literature 
of consolation, the beginnings of which are found in the earliest 
Greek writers, and whose development into a system of topics of 
consolation adapted to every kind of grief was completed in the 
classical literature. : 

Thoughts of consolation are supplied by the poets in words of 
charming sweetness. Many of them the philosophers have bor- 
rowed from the poets and clothed in language of sublime gravity. 
The rhetoricians in turn have added the magnificent impetus of 
their rhetorical art and formed for this style of writing certain 
rules.2 Their development was practically complete by the time 
of Cicero. Any person, who, in his day, required words of con- 
solation, could have recourse to the charm of the poet, the gravity 
of the philosopher, and the magnificence of the rhetorician to 
furnish the material he required. Cicero remarks: “There are 
particular treatises on banishment, on the ruin of one’s country, 
on slavery, on weakness, on blindness, and on every incident that 
can come under the name of evil. The Greeks divide these into 
different treatises and distinct works.” 

The duties of the consoler were also laid down. Plutarch says, 
“The discourse that ought to comefrom friends and people dis- 
posed to be helpful should be consolation and not mere assent. 
For we do not in adverse circumstances need people to weep and 
wail with us like choruses in a tragedy, but people to speak 
plainly to us and to instruct us. . . .”® 


1 Hipp. 189. 

2 Hec. 296. 

Cf. Androm. 421; Ores. 299; Hipp. 913; Aeschy., Prom. 240; 
Ov., El. i, ix. 

ϑ Hieron. Ep. lx, 5, 8. 

* Tuse. Disp. ἯΙ, XXxIv. 

5de Ex. 599B. Cic., T. Ὁ. iii, xxxi, thus expresses the 
same thought—Haec igitur officia sunt consolantium, tollere 
aegritudinem funditus, aut sedare, aut detrahere quam plurimum, 
aut supprimere, nec pati manare longius, aut ad alia mentem 
traducere. Cf. Stob., iii, 113; Mein., iv, p. 349, 1.319, 1.326; 
Ibid., p. 356, 1.577; p. 357, 1.610, p. 359, 1.674. 


8 The Consolations of Death 


Death, “‘the Sleep that is due to all,’’® has, from its universality, 
been the occasion of more consolatory literature than any of the 
so-called evils of man. The Homeric age was remarkable for its 
simplicity. The view taken of life was serious but not pessimistic. 
Little reflection was made on death, which was considered a 
necessary evil—an evil, however, which should be preferred to a 
greater evil, an ignoble life. With the development of philosophy 
the view taken of life assumed a different form. Naturally con- 
sequent on this was a change in the view taken of death. The 
Stoic braved death, even despised it; to him suicide pointed to a 
means of escape from the miseries of life. To the Epicurean it 
meant the end of all things. The manner of Socrates’ death is 
explained by his hopes of a future happiness, hopes which contain 
the germ of the Christian Faith. This changed attitude towards 
death gave rise to new τόποι of consolation. 

Unfortunately a large part of the consolatory writings has been 
lost. Crantor’s Consolatio is especially to be regretted, for it 
was highly praised by the ancients; a golden book, Cicero calls it; 
and Panaetius tells Tubero that this book is worth learning by 
heart.’ This work found many readers, for it treated of sorrow 
not as a reprehensible emotion as did the Stoics, but rather as a 
natural impulse requiring only to be kept within bounds. Cicero 
used it as the basis of his work, and the ps.-Plutarch did the 
same in his ad Apolloniam. A like fate befell Cicero’s Consolatio,® 
a work written to assuage his own grief at the death of his beloved 
daughter Tullia, in which he collected all the various arguments 
used by consolers on such occasions.?® 

The only critical discussion of this style of literature to which 
I am indebted has been written by Buresch.!° This writer has 
devoted an exhaustive study to the remains of all Consolatory 
literature down to the Sixth Century A. D." He treats of its 


6 Callimachus, Ep. 17. 

7Cic., Acad. Q. II, XLIV. 

8 The Tusculan Disputations in part supply for the lost Consola- 
tio, for Cicero here repeats much said in his earlier work. 

971. Ὁ. ΠῚ, XX XI; IV, X XIX. 

10 Most notable among the other critics is Skutsch, who has 
given a full analysis of the Consolatio ad Liviam with a view to 
fixing its date. Cf. Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopiidie, Stutt- 
gart, 1901, Vol. IV, p. 394. 

11 Consolationum a Graecis Romanisque Scriptarum Historia 
Critica, Lipsiae, 1889. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 9 


beginnings, growth and best productions. As above stated, much 
_of the literature of Consolation has been lost. With painstaking 
fidelity, Buresch has sought out everything in any way suited to 
restoring the nature and meaning of the lost writings. Many 
also of the works on this subject remain matter of dispute. He, 
with the same care, has endeavored to establish the authorship or 
approximate date of these disputed writings. In sketching the 
field of his research he suggests a further work—the gathering 
together and arranging of the individual arguments and topics of 
Consolation which ancients have used. The scheme of the present 
thesis has been the following out of this suggestion of Buresch. 
No attempt has been made in the present writing to view the sub- 
ject from a philosophical standpoint. Though this at first sug- 
gested itself as a possibility, an investigation of the matter dis- 
closed so vast a field for research that it was necessary to limit 
the subject to one of its various aspects. Nor have the Latin 
authors been quoted in the text; though they, especially Cicero and 
Seneca, might perhaps furnish more abundant material. The 
reason in this instance, as before, is that by their insertion the 
scope of the thesis would be unduly extended. These authors are, 
however, freely referred to in the footnotes. Nor has there been 
any effort to show that in its fullest sense Consolation is found in 
something far more exalted than philosophy—in Christianity 
which brings the consciousness of the presence and power of 
Christ, the dominant feature in religious consolation. 

The purpose, therefore, of this treatise is the collection, classifica- 
tion, and arrangement in logical order under the different τόποι, 
of the Consolations of death as expressed in the literature of 
ancient Greece. 


10 The Consolations of Death 


CHAPTER I 


THE INEVITABLENESS OF DEATH 


The consideration that death is the common lot of all mankind, 
the natural consequence of birth, and that man, a creature of a 
day,!? as Aeschylus calls him, must yield to it, offers a species of 
consolation to all. This aspect of death, therefore, is distinctly 
consolatory and will furnish us the first of the τόποι under which 
the motives affording consolation will be considered. 

Examining the passage of Homer in which death is mentioned, 
we feel constantly that he regarded death as something harsh and 
evil,” the deadly doom which no one who is born escapes.“ “ But 
swiftly on him came the evil which not one of them could ward 
off from him although they desired it.” “But harsh fate de- 
voured me, the fate which was appointed me when I was born.’’! 
His favorite epithets for death are severe and stern, as “black 
fate,” “‘evil destiny,” “the fates of black death,” “‘of death that 
lays men low.”!” These allusions to death readily evoke the 
image of the xp on the Chest of Cypselus described by Pausanius,'® 
or of the κῆρες of the Homeric poem, the Shield of Hercules. 

With peculiar tenderness and pathos the same poet dwells on 
the inevitable law of death. This is illustrated in the following 
passages. 

The father of gods and men, deliberating whether he would 
save his favorite Hector from the avenging hands of Achilles, was 
chided by Athene: “Δ man who is mortal, doomed long ago by 
fate, wouldst thou wish to redeem back from ill-boding death.” 19 
Hera addressed to him the same reproach when he wished to snatch 


2 Prom. 253, 546, 944. Cf. Eur., Or. 976; Soph., Antig. 790; 
Pin., Pyth. vii. 95, viii. 185; Bacchy., iii. 76. 
18 Cf. Odyss. xi. 488; II. iii. 454. 
14Qdyss. xxiv. 29. μοῖρ᾽ ὀλοή, τὴν οὔ Tis ἀλεύεται bs κε 
γένηται. Cf. Hesiod, Theog. 764. 
161], xv. 449. . . . τάχα δ᾽ αὑτῷ 
ἦλθε κακόν, τό οἱ οὔ τις ἐρύκακεν ἱεμένων περ. 
16 J]. xxiii. 78. ἀλλ᾽ ἐμὲ μὲν κὴρ 
ἀμφέχανε στυγερή, ἥ περ λάχε γιγνόμενόν περ. 
17 κὴρ μέλαινα, κακὸς μόρος, κῆρες μέλανος θανάτοιο, et alia. 
18 Paus., ν. xix. 6. 
197], xxii. 179. ἄνδρα θνητὸν ἐόντα, πάλαι πεπρωμένον αἴσῃ, 
ay ἐθέλεις θανάτοιο δυσηχέος ἐξαναλῦσαι. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 11 


his beloved Sarpedon from the “tearful war.”?° And as if to give 
greater vividness to this impossibility of avoiding Fate we find, 
“And Eunomus, the augur, yet with all his auguries did not ward off 
black death; but was vanquished by the hand of the fleet-footed 
Achilles in the river when he slew the Trojans there and the rest.’”! 
Although Axylus had entertained all men, yet there was not one 
to save him from his doom.*? Nor did the wonderful mace of 
Ereuthalion™ or the golden attire of Nastes™* hold back from 
them in any wise grievous destruction. “Nor yet did it 
avail aught to the two sons of Merops that their father be- 
yond all men knew soothsaying and would have hindered them 
from marching to murderous war: for the fates of black death 
led them on.” Though Abas and Polyidus were sons of 
Eurydamus, dreamer of dreams, yet he discerned no dreams for 
them.”* “Amphiaraus, the rouser of the host, whom Zeus, lord 
of the aegis, and Apollo loved with all manner of love, yet he 
reached not the threshold of old age.’?” “For, lo you, death, 
which is the common lot, the gods themselves cannot avert even 
from the man they love, when the baleful fate of death that 
lays men at their length, shall bring him low.” “Thou, 


20 Tbid. xvi. 441. 
217]. ii. 858. . . . καὶ ᾿Ἕυνομος οἰωνιστής" 
ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ οἰωνοῖσιν ἐρύσατο κῆρα μέλαιναν, 
ἀλλ᾽ ἐδάμη ὑπὸ χερσὶ ποδώκεος Αἰακίδαο 
ἐν ποταμῷ, ὅθι περ Τρῶας κεράϊζε καὶ ἅλλους. 
2217) vi. 14. . . . φίλος δ᾽ ἦν ἀνθρώποισι 
πάντας γὰρ φιλέεσκεν ὁδῷ ἔπι οἰκία ναίων. 
ἀλλά οἱ οὔ τις τῶν γε τότ᾽ ἤρκεσε λυγρὸν ὄλεθρον 
πρόσθεν ὑπαντιάσας. 
237]. vil. 143. . . . ὅθ᾽ ἄρ᾽ οὐ κορύνη ot ὄλεθρον 
χραῖσμε σιδηρείη.. .. 
2471. i. 872. ὃ καὶ χρυσὸν ἔχων πόλεμόν δ᾽ ἵεν Hite κούρη, 
νήπιος, οὐδέ τί οἱ τό γ᾽ ἐπήρκεσε λυγρὸν ὄλεθρον, 
GAN’ ἐδάμη ὑπὸ χερσὶ ποδώκεος ᾿Αιακίδαο 
ἐν ποταμῷ. 
46, ii. 833. . . . τῶ δέ οἱ οὔ τι 
πειθέσθην᾽ κῆρες γὰρ ἅγον μέλανος θανάτοιο. 
267) v. 160. τοῖς οὐκ ἐρχομένοις ὁ γέρων ἐκρίνατ᾽ ὀνείρους, 
ἀλλά σφέας κρατερὸς Διομήδης ἐξενάριζε. 
7 Odyss. xv. 244. . . . λαοσσόον ᾿Αμφιάραον 
ὃν περὶ κῆρι φίλει Ζεύς τ᾽ αἰλίογος καὶ ᾿Απόλλων 
παντοίην φιλότητ᾽ ᾿ οὐδ᾽ ἵκετο γήραος οὐδὸν. 
28 Ibid. il. 236. ἀλλ’ ἦ τοι θάνατον μέν ὁμοίϊΐον οὐδὲ θεοί περ 
καὶ φίλῳ ἀνδρὶ δύνανται ἀλαλκέμεν, ὁππότε κεν δὴ 
μοῖρ᾽ ὀλοὴ καθέλῃσι τανηλεγέος θανάτοιο. 


12 The Consolations of Death 


too, Achilles, peer of gods, fate will destroy beneath the wall of 
the noble Trojans.”® “Son of Atreus, we said that thou of 
all heroes wast always dear to Zeus, whose joy is in the thunder, 
seeing that thou wast lord over many great warriors in the 
land of the Trojans where we Achaeans suffered afflictions. 
But deadly doom was to visit thee too, which no one who is born 
avoids.’°° “T accept death . . . for not the mighty Heracles 
escaped death, although most dear to Cronian Zeus the king.’”*! 

Although in these passages little is said about consolation 
directly, yet through all there is a note of fatalism which may at 
any time become a note of comfort. We find this in the words 
Sarpedon uses for his own encouragement and to urge on his 
friend Glaucus in the presence of death. “Ah, friend, if having 
escaped from this war, we were to be ageless and immortal, neither 
would I myself fight in the foremost ranks, nor would I send thee 
into war that gives renown; but now ten thousand fates of death 
beset us, which it is impossible for a mortal to escape or avoid— 
let us go forward.’*? And again in the words of tenderness with 
which Thetis endeavors to console Achilles mourning over the 
body of Patroclus. ‘‘ My child, the man who lies here we must let 
be, although we are grieved; for by the will of the god from the 
beginning was he brought low.” 

Passages similar to these are found where comfort is derived 


297]. xxiii. 80. καὶ δὲ col αὐτῷ μοῖρα, θεοῖς ἐπιείκελ᾽ ᾿Αχιλλεῦ, 
τείχει ὕπο Τρώων εὐηγενέων ἀπολέσθαι. Cf. Eur., 
Ale. 987. 
30 Odyss. xxiv. 28. ἦ τ᾽ ἄρα καὶ σοὶ πρῶτα παραστήσεσθαι ἔμελλε 
μοῖρ᾽ ᾽ολοὴ, τὴν οὔ τις ἀλεύεται ὅς κε γένηται. 
81 J]. xvili. 11ὅ. κῆρα & ἐγὼ τότε δέξομαι, ὁππότε κεν δὴ 
Ζεὺς ἐθέλῃ τελέσαι ἠδ ἀθάνατοι θεοὶ ἄλλοι, 
οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ Bin ‘Hpaxdnos φύγε κῆρα, 
ὅς περ φίλτατος ἔσκε Διὶ Κρονίωνι ἄνακτι 
82 Tl. xil. 322. ὦ, πέπον, εἰ μὲν γὰρ πόλεμον περὶ τόνδε φυγόντε 
αἰεὶ δὴ μέλλοιμεν ἀγήρω τ᾽ ἀθανάτω τε 
ἔσσεσθ᾽, οὔτε κεν αὐτὸς ἐνὶ πρώτοισι μαχοίμην 
οὔτε κε σὲ στέλλοιμι μάχην ἐς κυδιἀάνειραν᾽" 
νῦν δ' ἔμπης γὰρ κῆρες ἐφεστᾶσιν θανάτοιο 
μυρίαι, ἃς οὐκ ἔστι φυγεῖν βροτὸν οὐδ᾽ ὑπαλύξαι, 
ἴομεν,. . . . . Cf. Odyss. xvi, 446. 
$3 J]. xix. 8. τέκνον ἐμόν, τοῦτον μὲν ἐάσομεν ἀχνύμενοί περ 
κεῖσθαι, ἐπεὶ δὴ πρῶτα θεῶν ἰότητι δαμάσθη. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 13 


from the thought that death, though inevitable, cannot come 
before the time ordained by the gods. “Although we are afflicted 
we shall not yet go down to the house of Hades before the day of 
destiny comes.’ It is this the noble Hector uses to comfort his 
sorrowing wife. “Dear one, do not grieve excessively. For no 
men will hurl me into Hades against my fate; but I say no man, 
either coward or valiant, when once he has been born, has fled 
from destiny.’’*® : 

But nowhere is the pathos of man’s mortality expressed with 
more wonderful power and strength than in the simple words— 
“Even as are the generations of leaves, such are those also of 
men; the wind scatters the leaves on the earth, but the forest 
budding brings and produces others in the season of spring: thus 
the generation of men, one produces and another ceases.” 
Simonides of Ceos was impressed by the Homeric expression when 
he wrote, “Nothing among men remains eternally lasting. The 
man of Chios has well said this one best thing, ‘like the generation 
of leaves, such is the race of men.’”’*? Scattered throughout his 
writings are allusions to this aspect of death. “The strength of 
man is slight but his troubles are incurable, for a short time labor 
about labor. Yet unavoidable death threatens him, for an equal 
share of this is the portion by lot both of the good and the "δα. 58 


$4 Odyss. x. 174. Ὦ φίλοι, ob yap πω καταδυσόμεθ', ἀχνύμενοί περ, 
eis ᾿Αἰδαο δόμους; πρὶν μόρσιμον ἦμαρ ἐπέλθῃ. 
86 Π᾿ vi. 486. δαιμονίη, μὴ μοί τι λίην ἀκαχίζεο θυμῷ. 
οὐ γάρ τίς μ᾽ ὑπὲρ αἶσαν ἀνὴρ ᾿᾿Αἴδι προϊάψει. 
μοῖραν δ᾽ οὔ τινά φημι περυγμένον ἔμμεναι ἀνδρῶν, 
οὐ κακόν, οὐδὲ μὲν ἐσθλόν, ἐπὴν τὰ πρῶτα γένηται. 
Cf. ΤΙ. ix. 820. κάτθαν᾽ ὁμῶς ὅ τ᾽ ἀεργὸς ἀνὴρ ὅ τε πολλὰ ἐοργώς. 


86 T]. vi. 146. οἵη περ φύλλων γενεὴ, τοίη δὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν. 
φύλλα τὰ μέν τ᾽ ἄνεμος χαμάδις χέει, ἄλλα δέ θ᾽ ὕλη 
τηλεθόωσα φύει, ἔαρος δ᾽ ἑπιγίγνεται ὥρῃ. 
ὡς ἀνδρῶν γενεὴ ἡ μὲν φύει ἡ δ᾽ ἀπολήγει. Cf. I. 

: xxl. 463. 

37 Bergk, iii. Sim. 85 (60). 
(οὐδεν ἐν ἀνθρώποισι μένει χρῆμ᾽ ἔμπεδον αἰεί.) 
ἐν δὲ τὸ κάλλιστον Χῖος ἔειπεν ἀνήρ. 

οἵη περ φύλλων γενεὴ, τοίη δὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν. 
88 Thid., 39. (54). ἀνθρώπων ὀλίγον μὲν κάρτος, ἄπρακτοι δὲ 
μεληδόνες, 


14 The Consolations of Death 


‘Death comes even to the coward.’® Callinus in his exhortation 
to battle urges the inevitableness of death as an inspiration to 
valor. “For in no wise is it fated that a man should escape 
death, not even if he is of immortal ancestors. Very often escaping 
the strife of battle and the din of javelins he goes his way, but the 
fate of death overtakes him in his home.’*° Demosthenes is 
imitating Callinus in the striking passage: “For all mankind the 
end of life is death, even if one shutting himself up in a cage pro- 
tects himself; but it is necessary for brave men to strive always for 
all honors, placing good hope before them, and to endure courage- 
ously whatever the deity ordains.”’*! This strain of pathos at the 
thought of the mortality of man appears frequently in the Odes 
of Pindar. “All must die.’ ‘On the rich and the poor alike 
the end of death falls.’ ‘For equally comes the wave of death 
and falls on the fameless and the famed” (or on the unexpecting 
and expectant).“ “We all in like manner die, although our lots are 
different.”*®> Or as Theognis expresses it, “No one by paying a 
ransom can escape death or heavy disease or severe old age coming 


αἰῶνι δὲ παύρῳ πόνος ἀμφὶ πόνῳ. 
ὁ δ᾽ ἄρυκτος ὁμῶς ἑπικρέμαται θάνατος. 
κείνου γὰρ ἴσον λάχον μέρος οἵ τ᾽ ἀγαθοί 
ὅστις τε κακός... .. 

39 Tbid., 65. (106). ὁ δ᾽ αὖ θάνατος xixe καὶ τὸν φυγόμαχον. 

40 Tbid., ii Cal. 1 (1). 12ff. 

ov yap Tws θὰνατόν γε φυγεῖν εἱμαρμένον ἐστίν 

ἅνδρ᾽, οὐδ᾽ εἰ προγόνων ῇ γένος ἀθανάτων. 


πολλάκι δηϊοτῆτα φυγὼν καὶ δοῦπον ἀκόντων 
ἔρχεται, ἐν δ᾽ οἴκῳ μοῖρα κίχεν θανάτου. 

41 de Cor. 258. πέρας μὲν γὰρ ἄπασιν ἀνθρώποις τοῦ βίου θάνατος, 
κἂν ἐν οἰκίσκῳ τις αὑτὸν καθείρξας τηρῇ. δεῖ δὲ τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας 
ἐγχειρεῖν μὲν ἄπασιν ἀεὶ τοῖς καλοῖς, τὴν ἀγαθὴν προβαλλομένους 
ἐλπίδα, φέρειν δ᾽ ἄν ὁ θεὸς διδῷ γενναίως. 

42 Berkg, i. ΟἹ. i. 82. θανεῖν Siow ἀ ἀνάγκα. Cf. [bid., iii. Diagoras 
2; Anth. Lyr., Phanocles 2; Stob. " ill. 118; Cons., ad Liv. ie 
Sen., ad Marc xvii; Proper. . El. il. xxviii. 58; Ver., Georg. i 
67; n. 275. 

43 Tbid., Nem. vii. 27. dgveds πενιχρός τε θανἀτουπόρον 

σάμα νέονται. Cf. Odyss.. xiii. 59: Pyth., 
Carm. Aur. 15. 
44 Tbid., Nem. vii. 44. ἀλλὰ κοινὸν yap ἔρχεται 
κῦμ᾽ ’Atéa, πέσε δ᾽ ἀδόκητον ἐν καὶ δοκέοντα. 
 Tbid., Isth. vii. 59. θνάσκομεν γὰρ ὁμῶς ἅπαντες. 
δαίμων δ᾽ ἄϊσος. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 15 


upon him.’’*® In Anacreon also we find mentioned this necessity 
of death, but, as in many of the odes of Horace, the motive is 
rather that of the ‘‘carpe diem.’’*’ 

There are a number of references in the tragic poets to the inevi- 
tableness of death bringing with it the consolatory reflection that 
the calamity should be borne with calmness. In Euripides (Hercules 
Furens 281), Megara, in spite of her own natural repugnance to 
death, encourages Amphitryo to meet it nobly. “I think it a dread- 
ful thing to die, yet [consider that mortal foolish who strives against 
necessity. But since we must die, we ought to die not wasted 
away by fire furnishing laughter to our enemies.’’** “‘ Endure with us 
death, which nevertheless awaits thee. I call upon thy nobleness, 
old man; for whoever is eager to escape from misfortunes sent by the 
gods, he is eager but his eagerness is foolish. For what must be no 
one will make that it must not be.’’*® Under similar circumstances, 
Euripides (Orestes 1022) shows Orestes reproaching Electra for 
her groans and tears. “Wilt thou not in silence, ceasing from 
womanish groans, make up thy mind to what is decreed? These 
things are indeed lamentable, but yet thou must bear thy present 
fate.”>° In Euripides’ Alcestis (614 ff.), Pheres makes use of this 


46 Max. 727. οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἅποινα διδοὺς θάνατον φύγοι οὐδὲ βαρείας 
νούσους οὐδὲ κακὸν γῆρας ἑπερχόμενον. Cf. Ibid., 
1010, 1187; Bergk, ii. Solon, 24. (ὅ.) 7; Ibid., ps.- 
Phocy. 110; Soph., Antig. 952; Proper., El. iv. 
xi. 2. 


48 καὶ τὸ κατθανεῖν 
δεινόν νομίζω τῷ. δ᾽ ἀναγκαίῳ τρόπῳ 
ὁς ἀντιτείνει σκαιὸν ἠγοῦμαι βρότον. 
ἡμᾶς δ᾽, ἐπειδὴ δεῖ θανεῖν, θνήσκειν χρεὼν 
μὴ πυρὶ καταξανθέντας, ἐχθροῖσιν γέλων 
διδόντας,. .. Cf. Mull., Democ, frg. 44. 
49] 807. τόλμα wel’ ἡμῶν θάνατον, ὃς μένει σ᾽ ὅμως. 
προκαλούμεθ᾽ εὐγένειαν, ὦ γέρον, σέθεν. 
τὰς τῶν θεῶν γὰρ ὅστις ἐκμοχθεῖ τύχας, 
πρόθυμός ἐστιν, ἡ προθυμία δ᾽ ἄφρων. 
ὃ χρὴ γὰρ οὐδεὶς μὴ χρεὼν θήσει ποτέ. Cf. Jodrell’s note on 
necessity, Illus. of Eur. Alc. 259, π|; Campbell, Soph. frg. 
236. 
οὐ σῖγ᾽ ἀφεῖσα τοὺς γυναικείους γόους 
στέρξεις τὰ κρανθέντ᾽; οἰκτρὰ μὲν τάδ᾽, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως 
(φέρειν σ᾽ ἀνάγκη τὰς παρεστώσας Tixas). Cf. Mein., iv. p. 
344. 1. 151. 


50 


16 The Consolations of Death 


consolation when condoling with Admetus over the loss of his 
wife. “1 come, my son, sympathizing with thee in thy mis- 
fortunes, no one will deny that thou hast lost a good and chaste 
wife. But it is necessary to bear these things although they are 
hard to bear.’’®! And Atossa (Aeschylus, Persians 294 ff.) found 
in it some alleviation for her grief over the misfortunes which had 
befallen the Persian army. “This calamity is too great for me to 
speak or enquire about our sufferings. Nevertheless it is necessary 
for mortals to endure afflictions when the god sends them.’’*? 
The threat of death did not deter Antigone (Sophocles, Antigone 
460 ff.) from disobeying the orders of the king and burying her 
brother. ‘“‘For I know I must die and why not? Even though 
you had not proclaimed it; and if I die before my day, I count it 
gain.”’®3 We have the Chorus, in the same author (Electra 860), 
reminding Electra in her grief that “death is natural to all man- 
kind,” and again (1171): “thou art begotten of a mortal father, 
Electra, reflect; and mortal is Orestes; do not lament excessively, 
for to suffer this is owing to us all.”®> The ps.-Plato expresses 
this necessity with even greater emphasis: “Not one of us has 
been born immortal; nor if this should happen to anyone would he 
become happy, as it seems to the multitude.’** And this fact is 


$1 ἥκω κακοῖσι σοῖσι συγκάμνων, τέκνον. 
ἐσθλῆς γάρ, οὐδεὶς ἀντερεῖ, καὶ σώφρονος 
γυναικὸς ἡμάρτηκας. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν 
φέρειν ἀνάγκη καίπερ ὄντα δύσφορα 
Cf. Ibid., 1070; Androm. 1233; n. 197. 

a ὑπερβάλλει yap ἥδε σνμφορά, 
τὸ μήτε λέξαι μὴτ᾽ ἐρωτῆσαι πάθη. 
ὅμως δ᾽ ἀνάγκη πημονὰς βροτοῖς φέρειν 
θεῶν διδόντων. Cf. Campb., Soph., Frag. 523; Eur., Hec. 
228. 

ve Θανουμένη yap ἐξήδη, τί δ᾽ οὔ; 
κεὶ μὴ σὺ κρουκήρυξας. εἰ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου 
πρόσθεν θανοῦμαι κέρδος αὖτ᾽ ἐγὼ λέγω. 


- πᾶσι θνατοῖς ἔφυ μόρος. 
Cf: Sen., Ep. 99.9. cui nasci contigit, mori restat. 
τς Θνητοῦ πέφυκας πατρός, ᾿Ηλέκτρα, φρόνει, 


Θνητὸς δ᾽ ’Opéorns. 
ὥστε μὴ λιὰν στένε. 
(πᾶσιν γὰρ ἡμῖν τοῦτ᾽ ὀφείλεται παθεῖν.) 
Cf. Diog. La., ii. Anaxag. ix; Xen. x; Cons., ad Liv., 367. 
ὅ6 Ep. vii. 5884. οὔτε γὰρ πέρυκεν ἀθάνατος ἡμῶν οὐδείς. οὔτ᾽ 
εἴ τῷ ξυμβαίη, γένοιτο ἂν εὐδαίμων, ὡς δοκεῖ τοῖς πολλοῖς. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 17 


borne out by the myth of Tithonus consumed by “cruel immor- 
tality” “and longing for the state of happy men who have the 
power to die.’’®” 

With effective eloquence Lysias introduces in his Epitaphios 
(77) this motive of consolation. “I do not know why we should 
grieve over such things. For we are not ignorant that we are all 
mortal. Why are we afflicted at such events as if one ought not 
to have expected them? Why support with so much impatience 
accidents which come from our nature, when we know that death 
makes no difference between the cowardly and the brave?’’® 

Jn the passages of Apollonius Rhodius, illustrating this point, a 
close parallel is seen between his turns of thought and even his ex- 
pressions and those of Homer. “On the same day a pitiless fate 
there seized Mopsus, son of Ampycus, and he escaped not a bitter 
doom by his prophecies, for there is no averting of death.”** “And 
here his destined fate smote Idmon, son of Abas, skilled in soothsay- 
ing, but his soothsaying did not save him, since necessity led him on 
to death.” ® “They say that Tiphys, son of Hagnias, died; nor was 
it his destiny to sail any farther. But a short sickness laid him to 
rest, there on the spot, far from his native land.”® “TI will dare 
(the contest),” said Aeson, “even if it is my doom to die, for 
nothing will fall on man more rigorous than dire necessity.”® 


57 Cf. Tennyson’s Tithonus. 

ὅδ᾽ Αλλὰ yap οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅ τι δεῖ τοιαῦτα ὀλοφύρεσθαι. οὐ yea 
ἐλανθάνομεν ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ὄντες θνητοί. ὥστε τί δεῖ, ἃ πάλαι προσε- 
δοκῶμεν πείσεσθαι, ὑπὲρ τούτων νῦν ἄχθεσθαι, ἢ λίαν οὕτω βαρξως 
φέρειν ἐπὶ ταῖς τῆς φύσεως συμφοραῖς, ἐπισταμένους ὅτι ὁ θάνατος 
κοινὸς καὶ τοῖς χειρίστοις καὶ τοῖς βελτίστοις; Cf. Cic. ad Fam. iv. 5 
where Servius Sulpicius extended this reasoning farther and found 
consolation from beholding the ruins of former magnificent cities. 
Polyb., xxxix. 5. 

59 Argon. iv. 1502. Ἔνθα καὶ ᾿Αμπυκίδην αὐτῷ ἐνὶ ἤματι Μόψον 
νηλειὴς ἕλε πότμος ᾿ ἀδευκέξα δ᾽ οὐ φύγεν αἶσαν 
μαντοσύναις ᾿ οὐ yap τις ἀποτροπίη θανάτοιο. 

6 Τ014. 11. 815. ᾿Ἔνθα δ᾽ ᾿Αβαντιάδην πεπρωμένη ἤλασε μοῖρα 

᾿Ἴδμονα, μαντοσύνῃσι κεκασμένον ἀλλὰ μιν οὔτι 
ie μαντοσύναι ἐσάωσαν, ἐπεὶ χρεὼ ἦγε δαμῆναι. 

61 [bid. ii. 854. ᾿Αγνιάδην Τῖφυν θανέειν φάτις. οὐδέ οἱ ἦεν 

μοῖρ᾽ ἔτι ναυτίλλεσθαι ἑκαστέρω. ἀλλά νυ καὶ τὸν 
ΘΝ αὖθι μινυνθαδίη πάτρης ἑκὰς εὔνασε νοῦσος, 

82 Thid. il. 429. τλήσομαι, εἰ καί μοι θανέειν μόρος. οὐ γὰρ ἔτ᾽ ἄλλο 

᾽ρίγιον ἀνθρώποισι κακῆς ἐπικείσετ᾽ ἀνάγκης, 


18 The Consolations of Death 


And when the same hero and his companions killed in mistake the 
hospitable king of the Doliones, bitter grief seized them. “Yet 
he filled up the measure of his fate; for it is not lawful for mortals 
to escape from it.”’® 
The author of the Plutarchian Consolation to Apollonius tells 
his friend that “each one ought to know that not only he himself 
is mortal in his nature, but it is the lot for mortal life and things 
to be quickly changed into the opposite.” ‘“‘ Why is it wonderful 
. if that perishes which by nature is perishable?”® “If 
therefore anyone is angry when he is dying himself, or resents the 
death of his children, is it not very plain that he has forgotten 
that he himself is a man and that he has begotten mortal children? 
For a man that is sensible cannot be ignorant that man is a mortal 
creature and born for this, that he must die.”®* In de Tranquili- 
tate Animi, Plutarch dwells on the same thought. “And with 
regard to things that seem to pain us by their very nature, as 
sickness and anxieties and the death of friends and children, we 
should remember that line of Euripides, ‘Alas! and why alas? We 
only suffer what mortals must expect.’ For no argument so lays 
hold of emotion when borne down and dejected as the remem- 
brance of the common and natural necessity to which man is 
exposed owing to the body, the only part which he gives to fortune; 
for in his most important and influential part, he is secure.” 


63 Tbid. 1. 1035. μοῖραν ἀνέπλησεν. τὴν yap θέμις οὔποτ᾽ ἀλύξαι 

θνητοῖσιν. 

64 103F. χρὴ γὰρ οὐ μόνον ἑαυτὸν εἰδέναι θνητὸν ὄντα τὴν 
φύσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅτι θνητῷ συγκληρός ἐστι βίῳ καὶ πράγμασι 
*padiws μεθισταμένοις πρὸς τοὐναντίον. 

6 [bid. 1061). τί γὰρ θαυμαστὸν... εἰ τὸ φθαρτὸν ἔφθαρται; 

66 Tbid. 1168. ὁ οὖν ἢ αὐτὸς μέλλων ἀποθνήσκειν ἢ τέκνων ἀπο- 

θανόντων ὑπεραγανακτῶν πῶς οὐ καταφανῶς ἐπιλέλησται ὅτι καὶ 
αὐτὸς ἅνθρωπός ἐστι καὶ τὰ τέκνα θνητὰ ἐγέννησεν; οὐ γάρ ἐστι 
φρένας ἔχοντος ἀνθρώπου ἀγνοεῖν ὅτι ὁ ἅνθρωπος ζῷον ἐστι θνητόν, 
οὐδ᾽. ὅτι γέγονεν εἰς τὸ ἀποθανεῖν. 

6&7 = 475C. πρὸς δὲ τὰ φύσει δοκοῦντα λυπεῖν, οἷα νόσοι καὶ 
πόνοι καὶ θάνατοι φίλων καὶ τέκνων, ἐκεῖνο τὸ Εὐριπίδειον 
᾿ οἴμοι. τί δ᾽ οἴμοι; θνητάτοι πεπόνθαμεν. οὐδεὶς γὰρ 
οὕτω τοῦ παθητικοῦ καταφερομένου καὶ ὀλισθάνοντας ἀντι- 
λαμβάνεται λόγος, ὡς ὁ τῆς κοινῆς καὶ φυσικῆς ἀνάμνησιν 
ποιῶν ἀνάγκης, 7 διὰ τὸ σῶμα μεμιγμένος ὁ ἅνθρωπος μόνην 
ταύτην τῇ τύχῃ λαβὴν δίδωσιν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς κυριωτάτοις καὶ 
μεγίστοις ἀσφαλὴς ἕστηκεν. Cf. n. 99. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 19 


CHAPTER If 
OTHERS HAVE HAD TO DIE 


This fellowship in misfortune is one of the sources of its greatest 
alleviation. The reflection that other men have had to die, that 
others have had to part with friends, helps to soften grief and 
moderate tears.** Hence this reflection furnishes a τόπος closely 
connected with the preceding one. 

The minstrel, singing the story of the misfortunes of the Danaans 
who had gone to the Trojan war, recalled even more vividly to 
the constant Penelope the memories that were wasting her heart 
with comfortless sorrow; and she begged him to cease such strains 
and sing other deeds of gods and men. But Telemachus answered 
that she should allow the minstrel to gladden their hearts as the 
spirit moved him, for men prize the song which rings newest in 
their ears—‘‘but let thy heart and mind endure to listen, for not 
Odysseus only lost in Troy the day of his returning, but other 
men also perished.”’®° 

The Chorus, which portrays the pervading sentiment of the 
action in the dramas, dwells upon this phase of consolation. Re- 
peatedly it reminds Admetus that he is not the only one who has 
lost a noble wife. “Admetus, thou must bear this calamity; for 
thou art not the first nor the last of mortals who has lost an 
excellent wife.”7® “But puttest thou no bound to thy sorrows? 
They are heavy to bear but still . . . endure, thou art not the 
first man that has lost . . . thy wife; but different calamities 
of mortals strike different men.’’"! “Thy wife is dead, she left her 
love behind: what new thing is this? Death has already destroyed 


68 Cf. Mullach., Pythag. Frag. 3; Sen., Polyb. i; Cons., ad Liv. 59. 
69 Odyss. i. 353. 

σοὶ δ᾽ ἐπιτολμάτω xpadin καὶ θυμὸς ἀκούειν" 

οὐ γὰρ ᾽Οδυσσεὺς οἷος ἀπώλεσε νόστιμον ἦμαρ 

ἐν Τροίῃ, πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ἅλλοι φῶτες ὄλοντο. 


70 Bur., Ale. “416. "Sica? avis γάνδε συμφορὰς φέρειν 
ot yap τι πρῶτος ᾿ οὐδὲ λοίσθιος βροτῶν 
γυναικὸς ἐσθλῆς ἤμπλακες. 
τι Tbid. 890.---πέρας δέ γ᾽ οὐδὲν ἀλγέων τίθης. 
—Bapéa μὲν φέρειν, ὅμως dé... . 
---τλαᾶθ᾽ ᾿ οὐ σὺ πρῶτος ὥλεσας. . .. 
- -γυναῖκα ᾿ συμφορὰ δ᾽ ἑτέρους ἑτέρα 
πιέζει φανεῖσα θνατῶν. 


20 The Consolations of Death 


the wives of many.” This theme is often introduced by the 
formula οὔ σοι μόνω, which at once classifies this τόπος. Such is 
the consolation offered by the Chorus to Theseus in Euripides, 
Hippolytus 834 ff. “Not to thee alone, O king, have these evils 
happened, but with many others thou hast lost an excellent wife.”” 
Lamenting over the sorrows of Hermione, in Euripides, Andro- 
mache 1041 ff., it enumerates the evils that have fallen on Trojans 
and Greeks. ‘“‘Not upon thee alone, not upon thy friends have 
sad griefs fallen.”"* In the same strain it endeavors to comfort 
Electra, in Sophocles’ play of the same name (153 ff.). “‘Not on 
thee alone of mortals, O child, has grief fallen.”7> And in pas- 
sionate language it endeavors to console Antigone in that play of 
Sophocles (944 ff.) by reminding her of mythological examples of 
similar suffering. “The form of Danae, too, endured to leave the 
light of heaven in dungeons secured with brass, and concealed in 
a sepulchral chamber she was bound. . . . But the power of 
fate is a marvelous one. Neither happiness, nor war, nor tower, 
nor black sea-beaten ships, escape it. And the king of the Edo- 
nians, the quick-tempered son of Duyas, was imprisoned for his 
fierce anger, being shut up by Bacchus in a rocky prison; and thus 
he distills the dreadful fury of his madness, in full force. . 

By the Cyanean deeps of the double sea, the shores of the Bos- 
phorus, and the (inhospitable) Thracian Salmydessus, where 
Mars dwells near their cities, saw the accursed wound, inflicted 
with blindness, on the two sons of Phineus by a cruel stepmother, 
a wound darkening the wretched balls of their eyes which were 


72 Tbid. 930. ἔθανε δάμαρ, ἔλιπε φιλίαν 
τί νέον τόδε; πολλοῖς. 
ἤδη παρέλυσεν 
θάνατος δάμαρτας. 
οὐ σοὶ τἀδ᾽, ὦναξ, ἦλθε δὴ μόνῳ κακά, 
πολλῶν μετ᾽ ἅλλω δ᾽ ὦλεσας κεδνὸν λέχος. 
Cf. Sen., Polyb. xxi. 
“he οὐχὶ σοὶ pova 
δύσφρονες ἐπέπεσον, οὐ φίλοισι λῦπαι" 
Cf. Helen, 464. 
16 οὔτοι σοὶ μούνᾳ, τέκνον, 
ἅχος ἐφάνη βροτῶν, 
Cf. Ibid. 289, ᾧ δύσθεον μίσημα, σοὶ μόνῃ πατὴρ 
τέθνηκεν; ἅλλος δ᾽ οὔτις ἐν πένθει βροτῶν; 


78 


where Electra complains to the chorus that her heartless mother 
repoaches her for grieving for her father. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 21 


struck with bloody hands, by the points of the shuttle; and pining 
away in misery, they wept the wretched sufferings of their mother, 
since they were the children of an ill-fated marriage. But she 
owned the seed of the sons of Erectheus, of ancient lineage; and 
in far distant caves was nursed amid the storms of her father, a 
daughter of Boreas, fleet as the steed over the steep crag, a child 
of heaven, but even over her, my daughter, the eternal Fates 
prevailed.”’”® 

The goddess Thetis, in Euripides (Andromache 1231 ff.), makes 
use of the same consolation, “O Peleus, I, Thetis, on account of 


μὲν ἔτλα καὶ Δανάας οὐράνιον φῶς 
ἀλλάξαι δέμας ἐν χαλκοδέτοις αὐλαῖς" 
xpuTTomeva δ᾽ ἐν τυμβήρει θαλάμω κατεζεύχθη᾽" 
καίτοι καὶ γενεᾷ τίμιος, ὦ Tat παῖ, 
καὶ Ζηνὸς ταμιεύεσκε γονὰς χρυσορύτους. 
ἀλλ᾽ ἁ μοιριδία τις δύνασις δειν ἀ᾿ 
οὔτ᾽ ἅν νιν ὄλβος οὔτ᾽ ’Αρης, οὐ πύργος, οὐχ ἁλίκτυποι 
κελαιναὶ νᾶες ἐκφύγοιεν. 
ζεύχθη δ᾽ ὀξύχολος παῖς ὁ Δρύαντος, 
"Hiwvav βασιλεύς, κερτομίοις ὀργαῖς, 
ἐκ Διονύσου πετρώδει κατάφαρκτος ἐν δεσμῶ. 
οὕτω τᾶς μανίας δεινὸν ἀποστάζει 
ἀνθηρόν τε μένος. κεῖνος ἐπέγνω μανίαις 
ψαύων τὸν θεὸν ἐν κερτομίοις γλώσσαις. 
παύεσκε μὲν γὰρ ἐνθέους γυναῖκας εὔιόν τε πῦρ, 
φιλαύλους τ᾽ ἠρέθιζε Μούσας. 
παρὰ δὲ Κνανεᾶν πελάγει διδύμας ἁλὸς 
ἀκταὶ Βοσπόριαι ἠδ᾽ ὁ Θρῃκῶν (ἅξενος) 
Σαλμυδησσός, ἵν᾽ ἀγχίπολις "Αρης 
δισσοῖσι Φινεῖδαις 
εἶδεν ἀρατὸν ἕλκος 
τυφλωθὲν ἐξ ἀγρίας δάμαρτος, 
ἀλαὸν ἀλαστόροισιν ὀμμάτων κύκλοις, 
ἀραχθέντων ὑφ᾽ αἱματηραῖς 
χείρεσσι καὶ κερκίδων axpatorr. 
κατὰ δὲ τακόμενοι μέλεοι μελέαν πάθαν 
κλαῖον, ματρὸς ἔχοντες ἀνύμφευτον γονάν". 
ἁ δὲ σπέρμα μὲν ἀρχαιογόνων 
ἅντασ᾽ ᾿Ερεχθεϊδᾶν, 
τηλεπόροις δ᾽ ἐν ἅντροις 
τράφη θνέλλαισιν ἐν πατρῷαις 
Βορεὰς ἄμιππος ὀρθόποδος ὑπὲρ πάγου, 
θεῶν παῖς. ἀλλὰ κἀπ᾽ ἐκείνᾳ 
Μοῖραι μακραίωνες ἔσχον, ὦ παῖ. 


Cf. Il. v. 382; Callimachus, Elegy on Bath of Pallas. 


22 The Consolations of Death 


thy former nuptials am come, leaving the dwellings of Nereus. 
And first indeed, in thy present evils, I advise thee not to bear 
anything too impatiently; for I also, who should have brought 
forth children free from grief, have lost the son whom I bore to 
thee, the swift-footed Achilles, the first man in Greece.”?? In 
like manner does Odysseus, in Euripides, Hecuba 322, coming to 
demand of Hecuba her daughter for sacrifice, remind the grieving 
mother that she is not the only one laboring under great affliction: 
“There are with us aged matrons and old men, not less wretched 
than thou art, and brides bereft of the noblest husbands, whose 
bodies the ashes of Troy conceal. Endure this.’’”8 

It is the opinion of Plutarch that “By this it greatly conduces 
to contentedness to notice how famous men have borne the same 
troubles.””?® We shall cease to blame and to be discontented 


ΤΊ Πηλεῦ, χᾶριν σοι τῶν πάρος νυμφευμάτων 
ἥκω Θέτις λιποῦσα Νηρέως δόμους. 
καὶ πρῶτα μὲν δὴ τοῖς παρεστῶσιν κακοῖς 
μηδέν τι λίαν δυσφορεῖν παρήνεσα᾽ 
x ἀγὼ γάρ, ἣν ἅκλαυτα χρῆν τίκτειν τέκνα, 
ἀπώλεσ᾽ ἐκ σοῦ παῖδα τὸν ταχὺν πόδας 
᾿Αχιλλέα τεκοῦσα πρῶτον Ἑλλάδος. 

18 εἰσὶν παρ᾽ ἡμῖν οὐδὲν ἧσσον ἄθλιαι 
γραῖαι γυναῖκες ἠδὲ πρεσβῦται σέθεν, 
νύμφαι T ἀρίστων νυμφίων τητώμεναι, 
ὧν ἥδε κεύθει σώματ᾽ ᾿Ιδαία κόνις. 
τόλμα τἀδ. 

7 de Trang. An. 467E. διὸ καὶ τοῦτο πρὸς εὐθυμίαν μέγα, τὸ 
τοὺς ἐνδόξους ἀποθεωρεῖν, εἰ μηδὲν ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν πεπόνθασιν. 
Cf. Apoll. Ty., Ep. xvic. Cic., T. D. iii. xxiv, xxv, xxxiii; iv. xxix. 
discusses this method of consolation rather fully. He tells us 
consolers have examples of those who are deprived of their children, 
for they who are under any great grief are comforted by instances 
of like affliction; and the endurance of any misfortune is rendered 
more easy by the fact of others having undergone the same. He 
makes use of this for his own consolation on the death of Tullia; 
for, in opposition to Carneades, he thought that one in affliction 
may be induced to bear calmly what others have borne with tran- 
quility and moderation. This consolation he admits is not always 
effective, for some have borne grief worse from hearing of this 
common condition of man and he concludes-ne illa quidem con- 
solatio firmissima est, quamquam et usitata est, et saepe prodest: 
non tibi hoc soli. Prodest haec quidem, ut dixi, sed nec semper, nec 
omnibus: sunt enim qui respuant; sed refert quomodo adhibeatur. 
Ut enim tulerit quisque eorum, qui sapienter tulerunt, non quo 
quisque incommodo affectus sit. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 23 


with the state of affairs if we see others cheerfully and without 
grief enduring the same things.”°® The ps.-Plutarch resorts to 
this method for alleviating sorrow, for he quotes for his friend the 
passage of Euripides in which Dictys comforts Danae* by bidding 
her consider the condition of those who have suffered equal or 
greater affliction. Not content with this passage from the poet, 
he reminds him of those conspicuous examples who have borne 
the death of their sons generously and with a great spirit; for 
instance, Anaxagoras of Claxomenae, Demosthenes of Athens, 
Dion of Syracuse, King Antigonus.* Here one may recall that 
saying of Socrates which remarks that if we gathered into one 
common heap our misfortunes so that every man might take an 
equal portion from it, most people would be glad to take their own 
and depart. Antymachus, the Poet, used such a plan when his 
wife Lyde died, whom he tenderly loved. He wrote an elegy 
upon her, which he called by her name. He enumerated all the 
calamities which had befallen great men; and so by the sorrows of 
other men he lessened his own. Thus it is evident that he who 
comforts another who is grieving and shows him, by reckoning 
up their several misfortunes, that he suffers nothing but what is 
common to him with the rest of mankind, takes the surest way to 


89Tbid. 469A οὔτω καὶ τοῖς πράγμασι παυσόμεθα μεμφόμενοι 
καὶ δυσχεραίνοντες, ἂν ἑτέρους ταὐτὰ προσδεχομένους ἀλύπως καὶ 
ἱλαρῶς ὁρῶμεν. 

81 Nauck, 460. 

82ad Apoll. 106A. ὁ δὲ παραμυθούμενος τὴν Δανάην δυσπεν- 
θοῦσαν Δίκτυς φησί 

'δοκεῖς σὸν “Αιδην τῶν τι φροντίζειν γόων 

καὶ παῖδ᾽ ἀνήσειν τὸν σόν, εἰ θέλοις στένειν; 

παῦσαι. βλέπουσα Seis τὰ τῶν πέλας κακά 

ρᾳων γένοι ἅν, εἰ λογίζεσθαι θέλοις 

ὅσοι τε δεσμοῖς ἐμμεμόχλευνται βροτῶν, 

ὅσοι τε γηράσκουσιν ὀρφανοὶ τέκνων, 

τοὺς τ᾽ ἐκ μέγιστον ὀλβίας τυραννίδος 

τὸ μηδὲν ὄντας. ταῦτά σε σκοπεῖν χρεῶν. 
κελεύει γὰρ αὐτὴν ἐυθυμεῖσθαι τὰ τῶν ἴσα καὶ μείζω δνστυχούντων, 
ὡς ἐσομένην ἐλαφροτέραν. 

88 Tbid.118D. ᾿Αποβλέπειν δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς εὐγενῶς καὶ μεγαλο- 
φρόνως τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς γενομένους θανάτους καὶ πράως 
ὑποστάντα... .. Cf. Eur., Ale. 908: Stob., ii. 108: Cic., 
T. D. iii. xxiv; Sen., Marc. xii. ff.; Polyb. xxxui. ff.; Diog. La., 
loc. cit. n. 55. 


24 The Consolations of Death 


lessen the opinion he had of his condition and brings him to believe 
that it is not altogether so bad as he took it to be.™ 

As if to give greater consolatory power to this manner of view- 
ing death, we have the added thought that, not only have others 
suffered it, but even better men have died. Ares was filled with grief 
and indignation at the news of his son’s death, and was preparing 
to avenge it immediately, when Athene, fearing the wrath of 
Zeus, restrained him. “I bid thee now-again restrain thy anger 
for thy son, for already many a man stronger than he and better 
with his hands, has fallen or yet will fall.’’® 

Well did Achilles avenge the death of his friend, for not only 
the perpetrator of it fell beneath his spear, but he who before had 
preferred to spare the lives of his captives, now had no mercy on any 
Trojan who came into his power. Lykaon, the youthful son of 
Priam, a second time his captive, pleaded earnestly with him, re- 
minding him of his former clemency; for the soul of the youth 
longed to flee from evil death and dark destruction. In vain was 
his eloguence—‘“‘Yes, friend, thou too must die; why dost thou 
thus lament? Patroclus, too, is dead, who was better far than 
thou. Dost thou not see also what kind of a man I am, how noble 
and great? And my father was a good man, and a goddess mother 
bore me. Yet over me, too, are death and strong fate.”®*> His 


84 Tbid. 106B. ἐνταῦθα yap ἄν τις ἑλκύσειε καὶ THY τοῦ Σωκράτους 
φωνὴν, τὴν οἰομένην, εἰ συνεισἐένεγκαιμεν εἰς τὸ κοινὸν τὰς ἀτυχίας, 
ὥστε διελέσθαι τὸ ἴσον ἕκαστον, ἀσμένως ἂν τοὺς πλείους τὰς αὑτῶν 
λαβόντας ἀπελθεῖν. ἐχρήσατο δὲ τῇ τοιαύτη ἀγωγῆ καὶ ᾿Αντίμαχος ὁ 
ποιητὴς. ἀποθανούσης yap τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτῷ Δύδης, πρὸς ἣν φιλο- 
στόργως εἶχε, παραμύθιον τῆς λύπης αὑτῷ ἐποίησε τὴν ἐλεγείαν τὴν 
καλουμένην Δύδην, ἐξαριθμησάμενος τὰς ἡρωικὰς συμφοράς,τοῖς ἀλλοτ- 
ρίοις κακοῖς ἐλάττω τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ποιῶν λύπην. ὥστε καταφανὲς 
εἶναι ὅτι ὁ παραμυθούμενος τὸν λελυπημένον καὶ δεικνύων κοινὸν 
καὶ πολλῶν τὸ συμβεβηκὸς καὶ τῶν καὶ ἑτέροις συμβεβηκότων ἔλατ- 
τον τὴν δόξαν τοῦ λελυπημένου μεθίστησι καὶ τοιαύτην τινὰ ποιεῖ 
πίστιν αὐτῷ, ὅτι ἔλαττον ἢ ἡλίκον ὥετο τὸ συμβεβηκός ἐστιν. 

85 Hom., Il. xv. 138. 

τῷ σ᾽ αὖ νῦν κέλομαι μεθέμεν χόλον υἷος Enos’ 
ἤδη γάρ τις τοῦ γε βίην καὶ χεῖρας ἀμείν ων᾽ 
ἢ πέφατ᾽, ἢ καὶ ἔπειτα πεφήσεται. 
867) xxi. 106. ἀλλά, φίλος, θάνε καὶ cb τίη ὀλοφύρεται οὕτως; 
κάτθανε καὶ Πάτροκλος, 6 περ σέο πολλὸν ἀμείνων. 
οὐχ ὁράᾳς οἷος καὶ ἐγὼ καλός τε μέγας τε; 
πατρὸς δ᾽ εἴμ᾽ ἀγαθοῖο, θεὰ δέ με γείνατο μήτηρ᾽ 
ἀλλ᾽ ἔπι τοι καὶ ἐμοὶ θάνατος καὶ μοῖρα κραταιή" 


Cf. Lucr., de Rerum Natura, Lil, 1026. 


In Aneient Greek Literature 25 


treatment of the lifeless body of Hector aroused the anger of 
Apollo, who reproached the gods for their cruelty in allowing it as 
if the loss of a dear friend were peculiar to him alone. “It may 
happen that many a man lose even some dearer one, a brother of 
the same womb born or even a son; yet he brings his wailing and 


lamentation to an end, for the Fates have given an enduring soul 
to men.’’8? 


87 Ibid. xxiv. 46. 
“μέλλει μέν ov τις καὶ φίλτερον ἄλλον ὀλέσσαι, 
= ἠὲ κασίγνητον ὁμογάστριον ἠὲ καὶ υἱόν᾽ 
ἀλλ᾽ ἦ τοι κλαύσας καὶ ὀδυράμενος μεθέηκε᾽ 
πλητὸν γὰρ Μοῖραι θυμὸν θέσαν ἀνθρώποισιν. 


26 The Consolations of Death 


CHAPTER III 


DEATH THE PAYMENT OF A DEBT TO NATURE 


Another view taken of death and one which was used to furnish 
grounds for consolation was the reflection that death is simply the 
payment of a debt due to nature.*® One can scarcely lament or 
complain when obliged to return what has simply been loaned, 
As Simonides of Ceos puts it, “One bids farewell when I, Theo- 
dorus, die; another will bid farewell to him, we all owe a debt to 
death.”®® “But cease from your grief for the dead” is Thetis’ 
last injunction to Peleus (Euripides, Andromache 1270), “‘for to 
all men this vote has been ratified by the gods, to die is a debt.’’?° 
The same advice is given by Heracles, in Euripides, to the sorrow- 
ful servant: “Death is a debt that all mortals owe; and there is 
not one of them who knows whether he shall live the coming day;’’ 
and by the Chrous to Admetus: “. . . but learn that to die is 
a debt we all owe.” 

Plato, moreover, adds that “should a person not pay as a 
debt his life rather quickly, Nature, as a usurer, stands near and 
takes as a pledge from one his eye-sight, from another his hearing, 
and frequently both... .”% 


88 Cf. Hor., Ars Poet. 63. Debemur morti nos nostraque. 
89 Bergk, iii. Sim. 122. (178.) 
χαίρει τις, Θεόδωρος ἐπεὶ θάνον ᾿ ἄλλος ἐπ᾽ αὖ τῷ 
χαιρήσει ᾿ θανάτῳ πάντες ὀφειλόμεθα. 
Cf. Anth. Gr. p. 109, 4. 
90 EKur., Androm. 1270. 
παῦσαι δὲ λύπης τῶν τεθνηκότων UTEP’ 
πᾶσιν γὰρ ἀνθρώποισιν ἥδε πρὸς θεῶν 
ψῆφος κέκρανται κατθανεῖν 7 ὀφείλεται. 
9 Ale. 782. βροτοῖς ἅπασι κατθανεῖν ὀφείλεται, 
κ᾽ οὐκ ἔστι θνητῶν ὅστις ἐξεπίσταται 
τὴν αὔριον μέλλουσαν εἰ βιώσεται. Cf. Soph., ΕἸ. 1178. 
®Tbid. 418. γίγνωσκε δὲ 
ὡς πᾶσιν ἡμῖν κατθανεῖν ὀφείλεται. 
Cf. Anth. Pal. xi. 62; Mein. p. 342, 69. 
98 ps.-Plato, Ax. 367B. κἂν μὴ τις θᾶττον ὡς χρέος ἀποδιδῷ τὸ 
ζῆν, ὡς ὀβολοστάτις ἡ φύσις ἐπιστᾶσα ἐνεχυράζει τοῦ μὲν 


ὄψσιν. . .. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 27 


Life is called by the ps.-Plutarch “a fatal debt which our 
fathers contracted and we are bound to pay; which is to be done 
calmly and without complaint, when the creditor demands it.’”™ 
More than that, “we ought not to take it amiss if they (the gods) 
demand those things which they lent us only for a short time; for 
the common brokers, unless they are unjust, will not be displeased 
if they are called upon to refund their pawns.” 


ad Apoll. 106F. διὸ καὶ μοιρίδιον χρέος εἴναι λέγεται TO ζῆν, 
ὡς ἀποδοθησόμενον ὅ ἐδανείσαντο ἡμῶν οἱ προπάτορες. ὃ δὴ καὶ 
εὐκόλως καταβλητέον καὶ ἀστενάκτως, ὅταν ὁ δανείσας ἀπαιτῇ᾽ 
Cf. Cic., T. Ὁ. i. xxxix; Sen., Marc. x, Polyb. x, xi. 

396 Tbid. 116A. οὐ det οὖν δυσφορεῖν, ἐὰν ἃ ἔχρησαν ἡμῖν πρὸς 
ὀλίγον, ταῦτ᾽ ἀπαιτῶσιν᾽ οὐδὲ γὰρ oi τραπεζῖται, καθάπερ εἰώ- 
θαμεν λέγειν πολλάκις, ἀπαιτούμενοι τὰ θέματα δυσχεραίνουσιν ἐπὶ 
τῇ ἀποδόσει, ἐάνπερ εὐγν ὡμονῶσι. 

Cf. Epict., i. i. 32, iv. i. 103, Ench. 11; Cons., ad Liv. 369; Sen., 
Marc. x, Polyb. xxix. 


28 The Consolations of Death 


CHAPTER IV 
DEATH NOT TO BE REGARDED AS UNEXPECTED 


Closely connected with man’s mortality and the necessity he is 
under of paying the debt he owes to nature, is the reflection that 
nothing happens to him which he is not formed by nature to bear. — 
Therefore it follows that nothing ought to appear unexpected. And 
since so large a part of the evil of death lies in its unexpectedness, 
many consolers think that meditation on death will rob it of its 
terrors and fears.? This doctrine, according to Cicero, was taught 
by the Cyrenaics.** It is the result of philosophic speculation on 
death and belongs to the theory of attaining to ἀπάθεια by the 
study of the workings of nature, found among the teaching of the 
Stoics.°7 We find little trace of it in Homer and but slight refer- 
ence to it in the tragic poets. The wretched Philoctetes (So- 
phocles, Philoctetes 504), in concluding his pitiful appeal to Neo- 
ptolemus, counsels him to reflect on coming misfortune in order 
that he may be prepared to meet it. “But it is necessary when 
one is free from woes, to look to misfortunes; and when one is 
living prosperously, to watch his life very closely, lest he slip into 
destruction.’*8 In a fragment of Euripides we find this doctrine 
mentioned. “I learnt from a wise man to turn my attention to 
anxieties, and misfortunes, to consider exile, (sudden) untimely 
death, and all other kinds of evil so that if I should suffer any of 
these things, they would not fall upon me unprepared.’’%” 


96 Τ᾽ ΤΡ. ill. xiii, xxii, xxxi. 

97 Zeller, x; Marc. Aur., v. 18; vi. 46; Epict., Ench. v, xxi; 
Sen., Mare. ix, Polyb. xxx, Helv. v, de Trang. An. xi; Cons., ad 
Liv. 399. 

#8 χρὴ δ᾽ ἐκτὸς ὄντα πημάτων τὰ δείν᾽ ὁρᾶν, 

χὦταν τις εὖ ζῆ, τηνικαῦτα τὸν βίον 
σκοπεῖν μάλιστα, μὴ διαφθαρεὶς λάθῃ. 

Cf. Hom., Odyss. xxiii. 262. 

99 Nauck, frg. 964. 

ἐγὼ δὲ (ταῦτα) παρὰ σοφοῦ τινος μαθὼν 
εἰς φροντίδας νοῦν συμφοράς 7’ ἐβαλλόμην, 
φυγάς 7 ἐμαυτῷ προστιθεὶς πάτρας ἐμῆς 
θανάτους τ᾽ ἀώὠρους καὶ κακῶν ἄλλας ὁδούς, 
iv’ εἴ τι πάσχοιμ᾽ ὧν ἐδόξαζον φρενί, 

μὴ μοι νεῶρες προσπεσὸν μᾶλλον δάκοι. 


Cf. ad Apoll. 112D, 108E; loc. cit., n. 67. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 29 


Plato dwells at length on this teaching and formulates his 
μελέτη θανάτου which is to take such an essential part in the 
education of his μεγαλοπρεπὴς ἀνήρ. “In reality, then, those who 
pursue philosophy rightly, prepare to die; and to them of all men 
death is the least formidable. . . . If they altogether hate the 
body and desire to keep the soul by itself, would it not be great 
folly if when this happens, they should be afraid and grieve?’’!° 
He cannot conceive how a man of magnificent intellect capable of 
contemplating all time and all being can possibly consider human 
life as a thing of consequence or death as anything terrible.“ In 
another chapter of the same book he censures the poets who 
inspire men with fear by the descriptions they give of the world to 
come. “If men are to be brave, must not these things be told 
them and such things as may make them least of all afraid of 
death; or do you think that anyone can ever be brave who has 
this fear within him?” !” 

This constant reflection on death proved a great source of com- 
fort to Socrates and taught him to meet it calmly, “for to fear 
death, O Athenians, is nothing else than to appear wise without 
being so; for it is to appear to know what one does not know. 
For no one knows but that death is the greatest of all blessings 
that happen to a man; but men fear it as if they well knew it is 
the greatest of evils.” 1% 

“Who would say,” asks Plutarch, “that the grief of Plato at the 
death of Socrates was identical with the grief of Alexander at the 
death of Clitus? For grief is beyond measure intensified by falling 


100 Phaedo 67E. τῷ ὄντι ἄρα, on ὦ Σιμμία, of ὀρθῶς φιλοσοφ- 
οὔντες ἀποθνήσκειν μελετῶσι, καὶ τὸ τεθνάναι ἥκιστα αὐτοῖς ἀνθρώπων 
φοβερόν. ἐκ τῶνδε" δὲ σκόπει. εἰ γὰρ διαβέβληνται μὲν πανταχῆ 
τῷ σώματι, αὐτὴν δὲ καθ᾽ αὑτὴν ἐπιθυμοῦσι τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχειν, τούτου 
δὲ γιγνομένου φοβοῖντο καὶ ἀγανακτοῖεν, οὐ πολλὴ ἂν ἀλογία εἴη, 

ς΄ Cf. Epict., ii. i, xxvi; Cic., T. D. i. xxxi; notes 202, 208. 

101 Rep. vi. 486A. 

102 Tbid. ili. 386A. εἰ μέλλουσιν εἶναι ἀνδρεῖοι, ἄρ᾽ οὐ ταῦτά τε 
λεκτέον καὶ οἷα αὐτοὺς ποιῆσαι ἥκιστα τὸν θάνατον δεδιέναι; ἢ 
ἡγεῖ τινά ποτ᾽ ἂν γενέσθαι ἀνδρεῖον, ἔχοντα ἐν αὑτῷ τοῦτο τὸ 
δεῖμα; 

18 Plato, Ap. 29A. τὸ γάρ τοι θάνατον δεδιέναι, ὦ ἅνδρες, οὐδὲν 
ἀλλο ἐστιν, ἢ δοκεῖν σοφὸν εἶναι, μὴ ὄντα. δοκεῖν γὰρ εἰδέναι 
ἐστιν ἃ οὐκ οἶδεν. οἶδε μὲν γὰρ οὐδεὶς τὸν θάνατον, οὐδ᾽ εἰ τυγχάνει 
τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ πάντων μέγιστον ὃν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ᾿ δεδίασι δ᾽ ὡς εὖ 
εἰδότες, ὅτι μέγιστον τῶν κακῶν ἐστι. 


30 The Consolations of Death 


out against expectation: and the calamity that comes unlooked 
for is more painful than that we may reasonably fear.’*!* In 
another work the same author remarks in this connection, “‘ Many 
are shocked at this saying of Menander— No man can say I shall 
not suffer this —being ignorant how great a help it is to freedom 
from pain to be able to look fortune in the face.”!® “For it is 
the fear of death and not the desire of life that makes the foolish 
person adhere to the body. . . . But he who understands the 
nature of the soul and reflects that the change it will undergo at 
death will be either to something better, or at least not worse, has 
in his fearlessness of death no small help to ease of mind in life.’’1% 
The author of the Consolatio ad Apollonium blames one who gives 
as an excuse for his grief that the calamity was sudden and un- 
expected: “But you should have expected it and considered the 
vanity and uncertainty of human affairs.” 


1044 de Vir. Mor. 449E. τίς yap ἂν gain τὸν... .. ἢ τῇ Πλάτωνος 
ἐπὶ Σωκράτει τελευτήσαντι λύπῃ τὴν ᾿Αλεξάνδρου διὰ Κλεῖτον, 
αὑτὸν ἀνελεῖν ὁρμήσαντος; ἐπιτείνονται yap οὐ μετρίως καὶ τῷ 
παρὰ λόγον αἱ λῦπαι, καὶ τὸ παρ᾽ ἐλπίδα σύμπτωμα τοῦ κατὰ 
λόγον ὀδυνηρότερον * 

106 de Trang. An. 476D. καίτοι πολλοὶ καὶ τὸ τοῦ Μενάνδρου 
πεφρίπασιν “οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ζῶντα Τοῦτ᾽ οὐ πείσομαι, ἀγνοοῦντες 
ὅσον ἐστὶ πρὸς ἀλυπίαν ἀγαθὸν τὸ μελετᾶν καὶ δύνασθαι πρὸς 
τὴν τύχην ἀνεῳγόσι τοῖς ὄμμασιν ἀντιβλέπειν, Cf. Kock, iii. 355. 

106 Tbhid. 476A. τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἀνόητον ὁ τοῦ θανάτου φόβος οὐχ ὁ 
τοῦ ζῆν πόθος ἐκκρέμασθαι τοῦ σώματος ποιεῖ,. .. ὁ δὲ τὴν τῆς 
ψυχῆς φύσιν ἁμωσγέπως ἐπινοῶν καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸ βέλτιον αὐτῆς ἢ 
μηδὲν κάκιον ἐν τῇ τελευτῇ μεταβολὴν ἐπιλογιζόμενος, οὐ μικρὸν ἔχει 
τῆς πρὸς τὸν βίον εὐθυμίας ἐφόδιον τὴν πρὸς τὸν θάνατον ἀφοβίαν. 
Cf. Cic., T. D. ii. i, iv; ili. xiv. 

107 ad Apoll. 112D. “ἀλλ᾽ οὐ yap ἤλπιζον φησί 'ἱταῦτα πείσ- 
εσθαι, οὐδὲ προσεδόκων. ἀλλ᾽ ἐχρῆν σε προσδοκᾶν καὶ προκατα- 
κεκρικέναι τῶν ἀνθρωπείων τὴν ἀδηλότητα καὶ οὐδένειαν, 


Cf. n. 58. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 31 


CHAPTER V 
DEATH A RELEASE FROM SORROWS 


A consolation for death is naturally derived from the considera- 
tion that life is afflicted by a multitude of sorrows from which 
death offers a welcome release. | 

The sentiment uttered by Homer—“of all things that breathe 
and creep upon the earth there is nothing more miserable than 
man ”’!°3—has been re-echoed by his successors. Sorrow, accord- 
ing to the same poet, is man’s natural portion, “this is the lot the 
gods have spun for miserable men that they should live in pain.’’! 
Hesiod fancied that all evils were let loose by the opening of Pan- 
dora’s box—‘“‘the woman opening with her hands the large lid of 
the jar dispersed and brought about mournful evils for men." 
“Full indeed is the earth of woes and full the sea, and in the day as 
well as in the night diseases unbidden haunt mankind silently 
bearing ills to men.” Pindar dwells frequently on this thought, 
“ΝΟ one is or shall be free from troubles.” ‘We each bear 
different lots by nature, one one, another another, but it is im- 


108 Odyss. xviii. 130. ουδὲν ἀκιδνότερον γαῖα τρέφει ἀνθρώποιο, 
πάντων ὅσσα τε γαῖαν ἔπι πνείει τε καὶ ἕρπει. 
Cf. Il. xvii. 446; Mullach., Emped. Carm. 30; Mein., p. 358, 1.640; 
p. 134 ii. 
109 J]. xxiv. 525. ὡς γὰρ ἐπεκλώσαντο θεοὶ δειλοῖσι βροτοῖσι, 
ζώειν ἀχνυμένοις" 
Cf. Soph., O. C. 1230; Bacchy., frg. 9; Apoll. Rh., Argon. i. 82; 
Eur., Alc. 802; Sen., Marc. xi. n. 1. 
100Q,D.94. ἀλλὰ γυνὴ χείρεσσι πίθου μέγα πῶμ᾽ ἀφελοῦσα 
ἐσκέδασ᾽᾽ ἀνθρώποισι δ᾽ ἐμήσατο κήδεα λυγρά. 
1i1Tbid. 101. πλείη μὲν γὰρ γαῖα κακῶν, πλείη δὲ θάλασσα" 
νοῦσοι δ᾽ ἀνθρώποισιν ἐφ᾽ ἡμέρῃ, αἵ δ᾽ ἐπὶ νυκτὶ 
αὐτόματοι φοιτῶσι κακὰ θνητοῖσι φέρουσαι 


σιΎῇ; 

Cf. Aeschy., Per. 708; Eur., I. A. 1330; Stob., iii. 98; Mullach., 
Democr. frg. 10; Cic., T. D. i. xxxi; et alia. 

112 Pyth. v. 54. πόνων δ᾽ οὔ τις ἀπὀκλαρός ἐστιν οὐτ᾽ ἔσεται. 
Cf. Aeschy., Choeph. 1018; Campbell, Frg. 373; Aeschy., Supp. 
329; Agam. 1327; Eur., Ion. 381; Mein., iv. p. 351, 1. 419; p. 357 
1.599; et alia; notes 38, 193. 


32 The Consolations of Death 


possible for one to have complete happiness.” "3“The gods give 
to mortals two evils for one good.” “What part of life,” asks 
Prodicus of Ceos, “15 free from evils?” And the ps.-Plutarch 
reminds the sorrowing Apollonius that “it is no unusual thing for 
a man to be unfortunate.”" “The inconstancy of Fortune,” 
Crantor tells us, “joined us at the beginning of our journey and 
has accompanied us ever since.”"’ This inconstancy of Fortune 
is an added misery to the lot of man, for “πο one knows what will 
happen in the course of tomorrow or in the course of an hour.’’™ 
Reflecting on this, Polymestor in Euripides (Hecuba 954) offers 
words of sympathy to the afflicted Hecuba: “I weep seeing thee 
and thy city and thy daughter who has lately died. Alas! there 
is nothing secure, neither glory, nor when one is faring well is 
there a certainty that he will not fare ill.’ | 
Considering the manifold evils of life, “many have come to 
the conclusion that life is a punishment; and to be born a human 


118 Nem. vil. 54. φυᾷ δ᾽ ἕκαστος διαφέρομεν βιοτὰν λαχόντες; 
ὁ μὲν τά, τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλοι τυχεῖν δ᾽ ἕν᾽ ἀδύνατον 
εὐδαιμονίαν ἅπασαν ἀνελόμενον. Cf. Pyth. 
vii. 20; Bergk, ii. Solon 18. (4.) 63; Ibid., 

Sim. Amorg. i. (1.) 20; Bacchy., v. 54. 

114 Pyth. i. 81. ἕν παρ᾽ ἐσλὸν πήματα σύνδυο δαίουται βροτοῖς 
ἀθάνατοι Cf. Hom., Il. xxiv. 527. 

115 Mullach., il. p. 138. τί μέρος τῆς ἡλικίας ἄμοιρον τῶν ἀνιαρῶν. 
. . . Ibid., Democr. 41; ps.-Plato, Ax. 866 D; Eur., Η. F. 1314; 
Aeschy., Agam. 554; Soph., O. T. 1186; Mein., iv. p. 195, x. p. 
351, 1.419. 

116104D. καινὸν ἀτυχεῖν οὐδὲν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀλλὰ πάντες ταὐτὸ 
πεπόνθαμεν. Cf. Dem., de Cor. 328. 

117 Mullach., Crantor frg. 9. ἥ 7’ ἄδηλος αὕτη τύχη πόρρωθεν 
ἡμῖν καὶ ἔτ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς ἠκολούθηκεν. . . . Cf. Ibid., Emped. 116, 
Epicharm. 188; Bacchy., ix. 45; ad Apoll. 1040; Bergk, ii. Archil. 
9. (48.); Eur., Ale. 785; Sen., Marc. xxiii. 

118 Bergk, ii. ps.-Phocy. 116. οὐδεὶς γιγνώσκει, Ti μετ᾽ αὔριον ἢ 
τί μεθ᾽ ὥραν. Cf. Ibid., i. Oly. vii. 44, ii. 61, Ibid., iii. Sim. 32. 
(46.); Theognis, 159; Eur., Troad. 1203; Or. 340, 976; Dem., de 
Cor. 311; Stob., iii. 105; Callim., Epigr. xv; Polyb., viii, xxii, 11; 
Mein., iv. p. 341’ 1.57; p. 353, 1.488, et alia. 

119. δακρύω σ᾽ εἰσορῶν πόλιν TE σὴν 

τὴν τ᾽ ἀρτίως θανοῦσαν ἔγκονον σέθεν. 

φεῦ. 

οὐκ ἔστι πιστὸν οὐδέν, οὔτ᾽ εὐδοξία οὔτ᾽ αὖ καλῶς 
πράσσοντα μὴ πράξειν κακῶς. 


Cf. Eur., Or. 1; Bacchy., frgg. 20, 21. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 33 


being, the highest pitch of calamity.””° It is related of Silenus 
that, being importuned by his captor Midas regarding the most 
desirable thing among men, he answered, “Not to be born is the 
best for both sexes. This should have the first place in our 
choice and the next is, when we are born, to die as soon as pos- 
sible.”'#!_ This same sentiment has been preserved among the 
maxims of Theognis.’ 

From these considerations we have a favorite τόπος used by 
consolers, that death 18 not an evil but a blessing, a remedy for evils. 
“Who but for death,” exclaims Aesopus, “could escape from thee, 
O life? Thy griefs are a thousandfold and it is not easy to escape 
them or bear them.”™ 

Prometheus, in Aeschylus’ play of the same name (1.778 ff.), 
laments his lot that he cannot die: “thou wouldst hardly bear the 
agonies of me to whom it is not doomed to die, for this would be 
an escape from suffering.””> “For to die is considered the 
greatest remedy for evils.””* “Since often length of days has 
brought us nearer to pain, but there is an ally who brings all alike 


120 Mullach., Cran. frg. 12. πολλοῖς yap καὶ σοφοῖς ἀνδράσιν, οὐ 
pov ἀλλὰ πάλαι κέκλαυσται τ᾽ ἀνθρώπινα, τιμωρίαν ἡ γουμένοις 
εἶναι τὸν βίον καὶ ἀρχὴν τὸ γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπον συμφορὰν τὴν 
μεγίστην Cf. ad Apoll. 115B; Cic., T. Ὁ. i. passim, ill, XXXii. 

121 ad Apoll. 115E. arb paras δὲ πάμπαν οὐκ ἔστι γενέσθαι τὸ 
πάντων ἄριστον οὐδὲ μετασχεῖν τῆς τοῦ βελτίστου φύσεως (ἄριστον 
ἄρα πᾶσι καὶ πάσαις τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι) τὸ μέντοι μετὰ τοῦτο καὶ 
πρῶτον τῶν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀνυστῶν, δεύτερον δέ, τὸ γενομένους ἀποθανεῖν 
ὡς τάχιστα. Cf. Sen., Marc. xxii. For the sentiment closely 
allied to this, “Mourn for the new born, rejoice for the dead.” 

Cf. Ax. 368A; Cic., T. D. i. 48, 115, 

122] 495ff. Cf. Bacchy., v. 160; Soph., Ο. Ὁ. 1225; Nauck, frg. 
908; et alia. 

123 Cf, Stob., iii. 120; Cic., in Cat. iv. iv; Luer., de R. N . lil. 
915ff.; Sen., Marc., xix, xx, Polyb. xxviii. 

124 Anth. Lyr. Aesopus, viii (reading θανάτου). πῶς τις ἄνευ θανά- 
του σε φύγοι, Bie; μυρία γάρ σευ λυγρά" καὶ οὔτε φυγεῖν εὐμαρές, 
οὔτε φέρειν. Cf. Bergk, ii. Mimner. 2. (2.) 9; Eur., Troad. 606. 

8. ἢ δυσπετῶς ἂν τοὺς ἐμοὺς ἄθλους φέροις, 

ὅτῳ θανεῖν μέν ἐστιν οὐ πεπρωμένον᾽ 
αὕτη γὰρ ἦν ἂν πημάτων ἀπαλλαγή᾽ 
Cf. Soph., Phil. 797, Trach. 1255; notes 56, 57. 
126 Kur., Herac. 595. τὸ yap θανεῖν 
κακῶν μέγιστον φάρμακον νομίζεται. 


Cf. Or. 1522, 187; Soph., Trach. 821. 


34 The Consolations of Death 


toanend . . . deathappears in theend.”’ Sophocles regarded 
death as “the final physician of diseases.”!28 And the daughters 
of Danaus, in Aeschylus (Suppliants 810), prefered it to forced 
nuptials, “death is free from mournful ills.””® Heracles, in the 
Trachinae of Sophocles (1.1169 ff.), interpreted the release from 
toils foretold by the oracle as a life of prosperity but it meant for 
him death. “It said to me that at this time now actually present 
there should be consummated to me a release from the toils laid 
upon me; and 1 thought that I should live in prosperity, but this 
was nothing else except that I should die. For to the dead no 
toil arises.”"8° Andromache (Euripides, Troades 636 ff.) envies 
the fate of Polyxena, realizing the miseries she has been spared. 
“ΤῸ be not born I say is the same as death, but to die is better 
than to live grievously; for not perceiving his ills he in nothing 
grieves . . . now she, just as if she had not beheld the light, is 
dead and knows none of her own troubles.” 34 

Artabanus finds Xerxes shedding tears at the thought of the 
briefness of human life, but he shows him we suffer other things 
more pitiable than this. “In this so brief life there is not one, 
neither of these men nor of others, born so happy that it will not 
occur to him, not once but oftentimes, to wish to die rather than 
to live. For calamities befalling him and diseases distur’ ing 


127 Soph., O. C. 1215. ἐπεὶ πολλὰ μέν αἱ μακραὶ ἁμέραι κατέ- 
θεντο δὴ λύπας ἐγγυτέρω, ... ὁ δ᾽ ἐπίκουρος ἰσοτέλεστος, . .. 
&dupos ἄχορος ἀναπέφηνε θάνατος ἐς τελευτάν. 

128 Campbell, frg. 631. ἀλλ’ ἔσθ᾽ ὁ θάνατος λοῖσθος ἰατρὸς νόσων. 
Cf. Eur., Hip. 1373. 

120 TO yap θανεῖν ἐλευθεροῦ--- 
ται φιλαιάκτων κακῶν. 

Cf. Eur., Hec. 214. 

ἥ μοι χρόνῳ τῷ ζῶντι καὶ παρόντι νῦν 
ἔρασκε μόχθων τῶν ἐφεστώτων ἐμοὶ 

λύσιν τελεῖσθαι. κἀδόκουν πράξειν καλῶς. 
τὸ δ᾽ ἦν ἄρ᾽ οὐδὲν ἄλλο πλὴν θανεῖν ἐμέ. 

τοῖς γὰρ θανοῦσι μόχος οὐ προσγίγνεται. 
Cf. Soph., O. C. 955; El. 1170; Aeschy., Agam. 1864; 
Sept. 335; Eur., Alc. 937. 

TO μὴ γενέσθαι τῷ θανεῖν ἴσον λέγω, 

τοῦ (nv δὲ λυπρῶς κρεῖσσόν ἐστι κατθανεῖν. 
ἀλγεῖ γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν κακῶν ῃσθημένος" 


180 


131 


κείνη δ᾽, ὁμοίως ὥσπερ οὐκ ἰδοῦσα φῶς, 
τέθνηκε κοὐδὲν οἷδε τῶν αὑτης κακῶν. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 35 


him make life, though really short, appear to be long; so that death, 
life being burdensome, becomes a most desirable refuge for men.” 4? 

To Plato death seemed the only thing that was a benefit to all 
mankind. “Probably, however, it will seem wonderful to you if 
this alone of all other things is certain and it never happens to 
man as is the case with all other things, since to them it is better 
to die than to live.’”* Frequent meditation on death convinced 
Socrates that it was better for him to die and be free from care. 
“Moreover we may conclude from this that there is a great hope 
that death is a blessing. . . . What has befallen me appears 
to be a blessing and it is impossible that we think rightly who 
suppose deathisanevil. . . ” .%4 “What has happened to me is 
not the effect of chance, but this is clear to me that now to die 
and to be freed from cares is better for me.” 5 yi en 

Speaking of the separation of soul and body Epicharmus says, 
**The earthly part returns to the earth; the spirit, above. What 
in all this is grievous? Nothing at all.” And Arcesilaus re- 
marks, “Death, which is called an evil, has this distinct from all 
other things that are thought evils, that when it is present it 
never grieves anyone; but when remote and in expectation only‘ 


132 Herod., vil. 46. ἐν yap οὕτω βραχέϊ βίῳ οὐδεὶς οὔτω ἄν- 
θρωπος ἐὼν εὐδαίμων πέφυκε, οὔτε τούτων οὔτε τῶν ἄλλων, τῷ οὐ 
παραστήσεται πολλάκις καὶ οὐκὶ ἅπαξ τεθνάναι βούλεσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ 
ζώειν. αἵ τε γὰρ συμφοραὶ προσπίπτουσαι καὶ αἱ νοῦσοι συνταράσ- 
σουσαι καὶ βραχὺν ἐόντα μακρὸν δοκέειν εἶναι ποιεῦσι τὸν βίον᾽ 
οὔτω ὁ μὲν θάνατος μοχθηρῆς ἐούσης τῆς ζόης καταφυγὴ αἱρετωτάτη 
τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ γέγονε. 

188 Phaedo, 62A. ἴσως μέντοι θαυμαστόν σοι φανεῖται, εἰ τοῦτο 
μόνον τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἁπλοῦν ἐστι, καὶ οὐδέποτε τυγχάνει 
τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, ὥσπερ“καὶ τ᾽ ἄλλα ἐστὶν, ὅτε καὶ οἷς βέλτιον τεθνάναι 


ἢ ζῆν 

ΟἿ. ‘bid. 84B; Cic., T. D. 1. xxxi, xxxiv. 

134 Plato, Apol. 40C, B. ἐννοήσωμεν δὲ καὶ τῇδε, ὡς πολλὴ ἐλπίς 
ἐστιν ἀγαθὸν αὐτὸ εἶναι... .. κινδυνεύει γάρ μοι τὸ ξυμβεβηκὸς 
τοῦτο, ἀγαθὸν γεγονέναι ᾿ καὶ οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ὅπως ἡμεῖς ὀρθῶς ὑπολα- 
μβάνομεν, ὅσοι οἰόμεθα κακὸν εἴναι τὸ τεθνάναι. 

185 7}14., 41D. οὐδέ τὰ ἐμὰ νῦν ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτομάτου γέγονεν, ἀλλά 
μοι δηλόν εστι τοῦτο, ὅτι ἤδη τεθνάναι καὶ ἀπηλλάχθαι πραγμάτων 
βέλτιον ἦν μοι. 

136 Mullach., Epicharm. frg. 263. 

γᾶ μὲν eis γᾶν, πνεῦμ' ἄνω. 
τί τῶνδε χαλεπόν; οὐδὲ ἕν. 


Cf. ad Apoll. 110A; Verg., Aen. xii. 647. 


36 The Consolations of Death 


then it afflicts τι5. 57 According to Hegesias, death withdraws 
us from evil, not from good.¥8 So fully impressed was Alcidamas 
with this thought that he wrote a book in praise of death endeavor- 
ing to establish the advantages of it by an enumeration of the 
evils of life.8° And Prodicus of Ceos, after enumerating the 
various ills that attend man from childhood to old age, comes to 
the conclusion, “‘even the gods, understanding human affairs, 
release more quickly from life those on whom they set the greatest 
value.’’!#° 

This aspect of death is used not only to afford a motive for 
meeting death with resignation and even a feeling of relief, but it 
is also employed as a source of consolation for the mourners. 
When Hecuba (Euripides, Troades 268) asked Talthybius con- 
cerning her daughter, he answered, “Deem your daughter happy 
for she is well . . . a fate possesses her so that she is released 
from toils.”“!. “Invite all the Persians and allies to my burial,” 
said Cyrus, “‘to rejoice with me that henceforth I shall be in 
security so that I shall no longer suffer any evil, whether I shall be 
with God or whether I shall no longer have any being.’ In the 
account of Socrates’ condemnation given by Xenophon he tells us 
that the master made use of this motive to console his weeping dis- 
ciples: “Do you now weep? Do you not long since know that from 
the moment I was born death was decreed for me by nature? If, 
however, I were dying amid blessings, it is clear that I and those 
who wish me well should grieve, but if I am losing life when 
troubles are to be expected, I think you all ought to rejoice with 


137 ad Apoll. 110A. ‘ τοῦτο τὸ λεγόμενον κακὸν ὁ θάνατος μόνον 
τῶν ἄλλων τῶν νενομισμένων κακῶν παρὸν μὲν οὐδένα πώποτ᾽ 
ἐλύπησεν, ἀπὸν δὲ καὶ προσδοκώμενου λυπεῖ. 

188 Cic., T. Ὁ. τχχχῖν. Cf. Soph., O.C. 1220; n. 297. 

139 Cic., T. D. 1. xviii. 

140 Mullach., i. p. 188. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ of θεοὶ τῶν ἀνθρωπείων 
ἐπιστήμονες ods ἂν περὶ πλείστου ποιῶνται, θᾶττον ἀπαλλάττουσι 
τοῦ ζῆν. Cf. Ax. 367B; ad Apoll. 108E; notes 167, 171. 

11 Σεὐδαιμόνιζε παῖδα σὴν ᾿ ἔχει καλῶς. 

ἔχει πότμος νιν, WoTe ἀπηλλάχθαι πόνων. 

142 Xen., Cyr. viil.vil. 47. Πέρσας μέντοι πάντας καὶ τοὺς συμ- 
μάχους ἐπὶ τὸ μνῆμα τοὐμὸν παρακαλεῖτε συνησθησομένους ἐμοὶ, 
ὃτι ἐν τῷ ἀσφαλεῖ ἤδη ἔσομαι, ὡς μηδὲν ἂν ἔτι κακὸν παθεῖν, μήτε 
ἢν μετὰ τοῦ θείου γένωμαι μὴτε ἢν μηδὲν ἔτι ὦ. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 37 


me as being happy.”“* “And to me,” Xenophon remarks, “he 
seems to have met a fate approved of by the gods, for he left the 
most troublesome part of life and met the easiest of deaths.’’“4 

We find in Lucian de Luctu: “The mourners take it for granted 
that a terrible blow has fallen both upon themselves and the 
object of their lamentation, yet they indeed know not clearly 
whether the fate of the departed is miserable and worthy of grief 
or the opposite, pleasant and better: They turn to grief in a formal 
manner and through habit.’’** 

Reminding him of the miseries of life the author of the Consola- 
tion to Apollonius consoles his friend for the loss of his son by the 
reflection, “She (nature) saw the woes of life and with what a 
torrent of cares it overflowed—which if we wished to number, 
we would grow very angry with it and confirm the opinion com- 
mon amongst some, that death is better than life. If then the 
condition of human life is such as they speak of, why do we not 
rather applaud their good fortunes who are freed from the drudgery 
of it, than pity and deplore them as most people do through 
folly?’ 


143 Xen., Apol. 27. ἢ ἄρτι daxptere; ob yap πάλαι ἴστε ὅτι ἐξ 
ὅτου περ ἐγενόμην, κατεψηφισμένος ἦν μου ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως ὁ θάνατος; 
ἀλλὰ μέντοι εἰ μὲν ἀγαθῶν ἐπιρρεόντων προαπόλλυμαι, δῆλον 
ὅτι ἐμοὶ καὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς εὔνοις λυπητέον εἰ δὲ χαλεπῶν προσδοκο- 
μένων καταλύω τὸν βίον, ἔγὼ μὲν οἶμαι ὡς εὐπραγοῦντος ἐμοῦ πᾶσιν 
ὑμῖν εὐθυμητέον εἶναι. 

144 Thid., 32. ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν δοκεῖ θεοφιλοῦς μοίρας τετυχηκέναι" 
τοῦ μὲν γὰρ βίου τὸ χαλεπώτατον ἀπέλιπε, τῶν δὲ θανάτων τοῦ 
Ῥάστου ἔτυχεν. 

Οὗ Xen. Mem. iv. yiii. 

145 de Luctu 1, 15. (922.) καὶ ὡς ἀφόρητα ἡγοῦνται τὰ συμ- 
βαίνοντα σφίσι τε αὐτοῖς οἱ ὀδυρόμενοι καὶ ἐκείνοις ois ὀδύρονται, 
οὐ μὰ τὸν Πλούτωνα καὶ Φερσεφόνην, κατ᾽ οὐδὲν ἐπιστάμενοι σαφῶς 
οὔτε εἰ πονηρὰ ταῦτα καὶ λύπης ἄξια ἢ τοὐναντίον ἡδέα καὶ βελτίω 
τοῖς παθοῦσι, νόμῳ δὲ καὶ ξυνηθείᾳ τὴν λύπην ἐπιτρέποντες. CE. 
Cie. loc. cit. n. 208. 

146 ad Apoll. 1074A, C. ὅρα δὲ καὶ τοῦ βίου τὸ ὀδυνηρὸν καὶ 
τὸ πολλαῖς φροντίσιν ἐπηντλημένον, ἃς εἰ βουλοίμεθα καταριθμεῖσ- 
θαι, λίαν ἂν αὐτοῦ καταγνοίημεν, ἐπαληθεύσαι μὲν δὲ καὶ τὴν παρ᾽ 
ἐνίοις κρατοῦσαν δόξαν ὡς ἄρα κρεῖττόν ἐστι τὸ τεθνάναι τοῦ ζῆν. 

. τοιούτου δὴ τοῦ βίου τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὄντος οἷον οὗτοί φασι, 
πῶς οὐκ εὐδαιμονίζειν μᾶλλον προσήκει τοὺς ἀπολυθέντας τῆς ἐν 
αὐτῷ λατρείας ἢ κατοικτείρειν τε καὶ θρηνεῖν, ὅπερ οἱ πολλοὲ δρῶσι 


δι᾿ ἀμαθίαν; Cf. Cic., ad Fam. iv. 5. 


38 The Consolations of Death 


In connection with the attitude towards death as offering a 
release from miseries and pain, the comparison of death to a 
peaceful sleep” naturally follows. This is a common figure of 
speech in both ancient and modern literature. Homer calls 
death -and sleep twin brothers,“® and Pausanius describes 
them as they are represented on the Chest of Cypselus—a black 
boy and a white boy in the arms of their nurse Night.“® Traces 
of this comparison may be seen in modern grave inscriptions 
which have their counterpart in many of the ancient epigrams. 
“Here Saon, son of Dicon of Acanthus, rests in holy sleep: say 
not that the good die.’’}*° 

Passing from this we have the Socratic argument based on this 
comparison. “To die is one of two things: either the dead may be 
annihilated and have no sensation of anything at all or, according 
to the common saying, there is a certain change and a passage of 
the soul from one place to another. If there is no sensation at all, 
as it were a sleep in which the sleeper has no dreams, death would 
be a wonderful gain.”*! The author of the Consolatio ad Apol- 
lonium comments upon this passage and concludes if death is a 
sleep, there is no cause to fear it.’ 

Here likewise may be added another familiar comparison, that 
life is a pilgrimage and death the end of the journey..* Some 


147 Aeschy., Agam. 1540; Soph., Trach. 1005, 1041; Ai. 831; 
Antig. 810, 832; Phil. 861; Eur., Hipp. 1377, 1386; Mullach., ii. 
p. 145.13; n. 6. 

148 T]. xvi. 672, 682. Cf. Ibid. xi. 241, xiv. 231, 482, xvi. 456; 
Odyss. xiii. 80; ad Apoll. 107F; Cic., T. D. ixxviii; Verg., Aen, 
vi. 522; et alia. 

149 Paus., V. XVIil. 

150 Anth. Gr. vil. 451. 

Τῇδε Σάων ὁ Aixwvos ᾿Ακάνθιος ἱερὸν ὕπνον 
κοιμᾶται θνήσκειν μὴ λέγε τοὺς ἀγαθούς. 
Cf. Ibid. 219, 459, et alia. 

151 Plato, Apol. 40C. δυοῖν yap θάτερόν ἐστι τὸ τεθνάναι. ἢ yap 
οἷον μηδὲν εἶναι, μηδ᾽ αἴσθησιν μηδεμίαν μηδενὸς ἔχειν τὸν τεθνεῶτα, 
ἢ, κατὰ τὰ λεγόμενα, μεταβολή τις τυγχάνει οὖσα καὶ μετοίκησις 
τῆς ψυχῆς, τοῦ τόπου τοῦ ἐνθένδε εἰς ἄλλον τόπον, καὶ εἴτε δὴ μη- 
δεμία αἴσθησίς ἔστιν, ἀλλ᾽ οἷον ὕπνος, ἐπειδάν τις καθεύδων μηδ᾽ 
ὄναρ μηδὲν ὁρᾷ, θαυμάσιον κέρδος ἂν εἴη ὁ θάνατος. . .. 

162 ad Apoll. 1070). Cf. Cic., T. Ὁ. i. xli. 

153 Kur., H. Εἰ. 433; Soph., Trach. 874; Ax. 365B; ad Apoll. 
117F, 119F; Bergk, ii. Anac. 38. (24.); Sen., Polyb. xxviii. Nullus 
portus nisi mortis est. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 39 


derive motives of consolation from viewing death in this light, 
considering it as a port or haven which affords shelter from the 
vicissitudes of life.1 

Continuing the argument brought forward in the preceding 
τόπος. Socrates says to his judges, “But if, on the other hand, 
death is a removal from here to another place, and what is said 
is true, that all the dead are there, what greater blessing can there 
be than this?” 

The author of the Consolatio ad Apollonium, quoting the words 
of Socrates, adds, “If death be like a journey neither on this 
account is it an evil.”® 


154 Cic., T. D. i. xl. xlix. 

185 Plato, Apol. 40C. εἰ δ᾽ αὖ οἷον ἀποδημῆσαί ἐστιν ὁ θάνατος 
ἐνθένδε εἰς ἄλλον τόπον, καὶ ἀληθῆ ἐστι τὰ λεγόμενα, ὡς ἄρα ἐκεῖ 
εἶσι πάντες οἱ τεθνεῶτες, τί μεῖζον ἀγαθὸν τούτου εἴη, ὦ ἅνδρες 
δικασταί: 

156 107 Ὲ, εἴ γε μὴν ἀποδημίᾳ προσέοικεν ὁ θάνατος, οὐδ᾽ οὕτως 
ἐστὶ κακόν ᾿ 


40 The Consolations of Death 


CHAPTER VI 
DEATH BEFORE SORROW HAS COME CONSIDERED A BOON 


The objection was sometimes made that it is not death but an 
untimely death that is deplorable; for it was considered the 
greatest misfortune to die unmarried and childless, or for parents 
to survive their children.“7 The pathos of a young life snatched 
away without having experienced the joys of motherhood and the 
happiness of family affection finds expression throughout the 
tragic poets.°8 It is also emphasized in the epitaphs.“* And 
here, too, is found the consolation the remembrance of such 
blessings has given to the deceased. “Ὁ passer by, do not blame 
my monument, because I have died I have nothing that is desery- 
ing of tears. I have left my children’s children, I have departed 
from a wife of my own age. I have given three children in mar- 
riage, whose children I have often fondled in my arms, having no 
cause to weep over the sickness or death of any of them. . . .᾽᾽ 169 
“Looking intently on my husband at my last hour, I praised both 
the gods of the lower world and the god of marriage, the one be- 
cause I have left my husband alive, the other because he was such 
Ὁ ΤΗΝ; sca 1}9} 


167 Sen., Marc. xvii. Nullum non acerbum funus est, quod 
parens sequitur. 

168 Kur., H. F. 480ff.; Hec. 402ff.; I. A. 1218ff.; Or. 1029ff.; 
‘Ale. 163ff.; Soph., Antig. 813, 876ff.; Luc., de Luctu 13; notes 
260, 285, 294: et alia. 

169 Anth. Gr. vil. 182, 186, 361, 487, 498; et alia. 

160 Thid. vii. 260. 

Μὴ μέμψῃ παριὼν τὰ μνήματά μου, Tapodita ° 
οὐδὲν ἔχω δρήνων ἄξιον οὐδὲ θανών. 

τέκνων τέκνα λέλοιπα ᾿ μιῆς ἀπέλαυσα γυναικὸς 
συγγήρου © τρισσοῖς παισὶν ἔδωκα γάμους, 

ἐξ ὧν πολλάκι παῖδας ἐμοῖς ἐνεκοίμισα κόλποις, 
οὐδενὸς οἰμώξας οὐ νόσον, οὐ θάνατον ᾿ 

οἵ με κατασπείσαντες ἀπήμονα τον γλυκὺν ὕπνον 
κοιμᾶσθαι χώρην πέμψαν ἐπ᾽ εὐσεβέων. 

Cf. Plato, Hip. Mai. 291D. 

161 Thid. vii. 555. 

"Es πόσιν ἀθρήσασα παρ᾽ ἐσχατίης λίνα μοίρης 
ἤνεσα καὶ χθονίους, ἤνεσα καὶ ζυγίους. 

τοὺς μέν, ὅτι ζωὸν λίπον ἀνέρα, τοὺς δ᾽, ὅτι τοῖον. 
ἀλλὰ πατὴρ μίμνοι παισὶν ἐφ᾽ ἡμετέροις. 


Cf. Ibid. 667. 


In Aneient Greek Literature 41 


Writing to his wife who was grieving over their little daughter’s 
being deprived of this domestic happiness, Plutarch observes, “if 
you grieve over her dying unmarried and childless you can comfort 
yourself with the thought that you have had both these advan- 


tages.”"1 


As said above, it was considered a great misfortune for parents 
to survive their children. It was this thought that caused such 
intense grief to the mother of Jason when he was departing on his 
perilous journey. “Would that on that day, when, wretched 
woman that I am, I heard King Peleus give his evil command. I 
had straightway given up my life and forgotten my cares, so that 
thou thyself my son with thine own hands mightest have buried 
me; for that was the only wish left me still to be fulfilled by thee.” 
Homer brings in this thought, “He repaid not his dear parents 
for his nurture for his life was short. . . .”? The author of 
Ad Apollonium replies to the complaint of the sorrowing father 
that he should have died first that his son might bury him, for 
that was according to nature, “it is clearly according to human 
nature but not according to the providence of the gods and their 
arrangement of the world. For him who is happy, it was not 
according to nature to stay in this life longer than the time ap- 
pointed him.”?* 


162ad Ux. 611C. εἰ δ᾽ ἐκείνης ἔχεις οἶκτον ἀγάμου καὶ ἄπαιδος 
οἰχομένης, αὖθις ἔχεις Ex’ ἄλλοις ἡδίω σεαυτὴν ποιεῖν, μηδενὸς τούτων 
ἀτελῆ μηδ᾽ ἄμοιρον γενομένην ᾿ 

163 Anoll. Rh., Argon. 1. 278. 

Αἴθ᾽ ὄφελον κεῖν᾽ ἦμαρ, ὅτ᾽ ἐξειπόντος ἄκουσα 
δειλὴ ἐγὼ Πελίαο κακὴν βασιλῆος ἐφετμὴν, 

αὐτίχ᾽ ἀπὸ Ψυχὴν μεθέμεν, κηδέων τε λαθέσθαι, 
bgp’ αὐτός με τεῇσι φίλαις ταρχύσαο χερσίν, 
τέκνον ἐμόν ᾿ τὸ γὰρ οἷον ἔην ἔτι λοιπὸν ἐξέλδωρ 
ἐκ σέθεν, ἄλλα δὲ πάντα πάλαι θρεπτήρια πέσσω. 

Cf. Verg., Aen. xi. 150; viii. 578; Eur. Ale. 290; Troad. 1180; 
Androm. 1208; Med. 1032; Anth. Gr. p. 594.2; Cons., ad Liv. 157; 
Quint., Inst. vi. Introd. 

164 Π iv.477. οὐδὲ τοκεῦσι 

θρέπτρα φίλοις ἀπέδωκε, μινυνθάδιος δέ οἱ αἰὼν. 

Cf Ibid. xvii. 301; xxiii. 222. 

1651]19F. τοῦτο yap εἶναι κατὰ φύσιν, THY ἡμετέραν δηλονότι 
καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ κατὰ τὴν τῶν ὅλων πρόνοιαν καὶ τὴν 
κοσμικὴν διάταξιν. ἐκείνῳ δὲ τῷ μακαρισθέντι οὐκ ἦν κατὰ φύσιν 
περαιτέρω τοῦ ἀπονεμηθέντος αὐτῷ χρόνου πρὸς τὸν ἐνθάδε βίον 
περιμένειν, . .. 


42 The Consolations of Death 


The great motive for consolation in such cases is found in the 
reflection that those who die early have escaped many misfortunes 
and that not a few would have been saved from greater calamities if 
they had met an earlier death.*° In this connection a story found 
in a fragment of Crantor’s Consolatio is frequently quoted by 
consolers. ‘Termaeus of Elysia, bitterly bewailing the loss of his 
son, went to a place of divination to be informed why he was 
visited with so great an affliction. He was consoled by the answer 
that it was not well either for the youth or his parents that he 
should live.'*7 Here also may be quoted a passage from the 
Consolatio ad Apollonium. “Troilus in truth wept less than 
Priam even if he perished in his youth, while his father’s kingdom 
flourished and his riches abounded, which Priam afterwards 
laments.’’!6° Therefore death cannot be called untimely if it 
removes one from future evils. An anonymous comedian well 
expresses this consolation: “If you knew that this life which is 
taken from him would be passed in happiness, death would be 
untimely, but if, on the other hand, this life was to bring him 
hopeless grief, death perhaps was the more obliging of the two.”}® 
“You ought not therefore to mourn for those who die young as if 
they were deprived of the enjoyments of life for it is uncertain, 
as we have often said, whether they are deprived of good or evil.’’!”9 
“Who knows but that the Deity, with a fatherly providence and 


166 Soph., O. T. 1349; Cic., T. Ὁ. i. xxxiv, xlv;Sen., Mare. xx; 
n. 53. 
167 Mullach., Cran. frg. 10. Cf. ad Apoll. 109B; Cic., T. D. 
i. xlviii; Kock, ill. p. 36. 125 “Ὅν of θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν ἀποθνήσκει véos.. 
168 113F. μεῖον yap ὄντως ἐδάκρυσε Tpwiros ἢ Πρίαμος, κἂν 
Πρίαμος αὐτός, εἰ προετελεύτησεν ἔτ᾽ ἀκμαξούσης αὐτῷ τῆς βασι- 
λείας καὶ τῆς τοσαὑτης τύχης ἣν ἐθρήνει. 
Cf. Apoll. Rh., Argon. i. 253; Cic., T. D. i. xxxv, xxxix; ad Fam. 
iv. 5. 
169 Mein., iv. p. 669. εἶτ᾽ εἰ μὲν ἤδεις ὅττι τοῦτον τὸν βίον, 
ὃν οὐκ ἐβίωσε, ζῶν διευτύχησεν ἅν, 
ὁ θάνατος οὐκ εὔκαιρος᾽ εἰ δ᾽ ἤνεγκεν αὖ 
οὗτος ὁ βίος τι τῶν ἀνηκέστων, ἴσως 
ὁ θάνατος αὐτὸς σοῦ γέγονεν εὐνούστερος. 
Cf. ad Apoll. 110E; Campbell, Frag. 760. 
170ad Apoll. 115F. οὐ χρὴ οὖν τοὺς ἀποθνήσκοντας νέους θρηνεῖν — 
ὅτι τῶν ἐν τῷ μακρῷ βίῳ νομιζομένων ἀγαθῶν ἀπεστέρηνται. 
τοῦτο ἄδηλον, ὡς πολλάκις εἴπομεν, εἴτ᾽ ἀγαθῶν ἀπεστερημένοι 
τυγχάνουσιν εἴτε κακῶν. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 43 


tenderness, foreseeing what is to happen the human race, has taken 
some purposely out of this life by an untimely death.” "1: 

A further motive for consolation in the case of an early death is, 
“not the longest life but the most virtuous is best.’’172 For “‘ goodness 
of life is its measure, not length of time.”'* This motive is found 
among the consolations in the Epistle to Sotira. “Happy was 
Gryllus and whoever else chooses not the longest life but the most 
virtuous.”!* And moreover the longest life is relatively short. 
“According to Simonides, thousands, even numberless years are 
but a point compared to eternity; rather, they are but the very 
smallest part of a point.’ 15 


M1 Tbid. 117D. τίς yap οἶδεν, εἰ ὁ θεὸς πατρικῶς κηδόμενος τοῦ 
ἀνθρωπείου γένους καὶ προορώμενος τὰ μέλλοντα συμβήσεσθαι 
προεξάγει τινὰς ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν ἀώρους; Cf. Ibid. 111E; Bergk, i. Isth. 
frg. 8. (26.) for the story of Trophonius and Agamedes.; Ax. 
367B; ad Apoll. 109A; Cic., T. D. xlvii; n. 140. 

172 ad Apoll. 111A. οὐχ ὁ “μακρότατος Bios ἄριστος ἀλλ᾽ ὁ σπου- 
δαιότατος. Cf. Cic., T. D. i. xxxix, xlv. Nemo parum diu vixit, 
qui virtutis perfectae perfecto functus est munere. Sen., Marc. 
xxiv; Ep. 93.2; Cons., ad Liv. 285, 447. 

%Tbhid. 1110. μέτρον γὰρ τοῦ βίου τὸ καλόν, οὐ τὸ τοῦ 
χρόνου μῆκος. 

14 Xen., Op. iv. p. 291. μακάριος οὖν δὴ Γρύλλος καὶ ὅστις οὐ τὸ 
μήκιστον ἑλόμενος τοῦ βίου, τὸ δὲ μετὰ ἀρετῆς. 

5 ad Apoll. 1110. τὰ γὰρ χίλια καὶ τὰ μύρια κατὰ Σιμωνίδην 
ἔτη στιγμή Tis ἐστιν ἀόριστος, μᾶλλον δὲ μόριόν τι βραχύτατον 


στιγμῆς. 
Cf. Plato, Rep. vi. 498D; Cic., n.174; Sen., Marc. xx. 


44 The Consolations of Death 


CHAPTER VII 
DEAD DO NOT SUFFER FROM THE LOSS OF LIFE’S BLESSINGS 


A great source of grief is the opinion that the dead are deprived 
of the advantages and pleasures of this life and that they are 
sensible of their loss. 

Consolers endeavor to remove this apprehension by representing 
that the dead are neither in need of the blessings of life nor of life 
itself; therefore, they do not suffer from the deprivation of its good 
things.'7° 

On this point Plutarch writes words of comfort to his wife sorrow- 
ing at the thought that their little daughter feels the loss of life’s 
joys and blessings; “even the loss of important things does not 
grieve us when we have no use for them. It was only little things 
your Timoxena was deprived of . . . how can one be said to be 
deprived of things of which one had no knowledge or percep- 
tion? Ἢ 

This fear causes sorrow not only to the mourner but also to the 
soul anticipating its separation from the body, as was the case of 
Axiochus, who was pained at the thought of being deprived of the 
pleasures and enjoyments of this world. But Socrates removes this 
apprehension of his dying friend, “throw aside then all silliness of 
this kind knowing this, that after the union of the soul with the 
body has once been dissolved by the former being settled in its 
own home place, the body, that is left, is of the earth and devoid 
of reason, nor is ita man. For we are soul, living immortal, shut 
up in a mortal prison.”’!"8 


176 Cicero enlarges on this point, feeling that this apprehension 
is the origin of lamentation and tears. T. D. 1. v—vii, xiii, XXXVi, 
Xxxvil, xliii, xliv, xlvi; Luer., de R. N. iii. 874f.; Sen., Mare. xix; 
Polyb. xxvii; chap. v. 

177 ad Ux. 611D. τῶν μεγάλων στερήσεις ἀποβάλλουσι τὸ λυποῦν 
εἰς τὸ μὴ δεῖσθαι περιγενόμεναι. Τιμοξένα δ᾽ ἡ σὴ μικρῶν μὲν ἐστ- 
ἐρηται, μικρὰ γὰρ ἔγνω καὶ μικροῖς ἔχαιρε. ὧν 6’ οὔτ᾽ αἴσθησιν 
ἔσχεν οὔτ᾽ ἔλαβεν ἐπίνοιαν, πῶς ἂν στέρεσθαι λέγοιτο; 

178 Ay,, 365E. πάντα τοιγαροῦν τὸν τοιόνδε φλύαρον ἀποσκεέδ- 
ασαι, τοῦτο ἐννοήσας, ὅτι τῆς συγκρίσεως ἅπαξ διαλυθείσης, καὶ 
τῆς Ψυχῆς εἰς τὸν οἰκεῖον ἰδρυνθείσης τόπον, τὸ ὑπολειφθὲν σῶμα, 
γεῶδες ὃν καὶ ἄλογον, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἅνθρωπος, ἡμεῖς μὲν γὰρ ἐσμὲν 
ψυχὴ, ζῶον ἀθάνατον, ἐν θνητῷ καθειργμένον φρουρίῳ. 


Cf. n. 245. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 45 


CHAPTER VIII 
COMFORT DERIVED FROM GIVING EXPRESSION TO GRIEF 


Amid the considerable varieties found in the motives for con- 
colation mention is sometimes made of the comfort derived from 
giving expression to grief.'"° 

Crantor’s book on consolation found many readers, for he 
treated of grief, not as a reprehensible emotion, but as a passion 
to be kept within bounds. 

Although we find that during the Trojan war, when truce was 
declared that each party might bury its dead, the great Priam 
forbade his people to weep, so “in silence they heaped the corpses 
on the pyre, stricken at heart,’’!*° yet this was not the usual attitude 
of Homer. For elsewhere he does not censure the shedding of 
tears but regards them as a source of consolation to the survivors 
and the due of the departed. ‘“‘Not indeed do I deem it unbecom- 
ing to weep for any mortal who has died and met his fate. This 
is now the only honor we pay to miserable men to cut the hair 
and let the tear fall from the cheek.”’!*! 

The deprivation of the consolation of weeping over the body of 
Odysseus was a cause of great grief to his family. “His mother 
wept not over him, nor prepared him for burial, nor his father, we 
who gave him birth, nor did his bride of rich gifts, the constant 
Penelope, bewail her lord upon the bier, as was fitting, nor close 
his eyes, for this is the due of the departed.” 152. To be deprived of 


179 Cf. Plut., de C. 1. 455C; Odyss. xv. 399; Il. xxiii. 97; Soph., 
El. 150; Eur., Supp. 79; Troad. 604; Androm. 93; Hel. 950; Alec. 
1080 (Jerram’s note); Luc., de B. C. ix. 55, 111; Sen., Polyb 
xxiii amara quadam libidine dolendi. 

180 Π᾿ vii. 427. οὐδ᾽ εἴα κλαίειν Πρίαμος μέγας of δὲ σιωπῇ 

νεκροὺς Tupxatns ἐπενήνεον ἀχνύμενοι κῆρ, 
181 Odyss. iv. 195. νεμεσσῶμαι γε μὲν οὐδὲν 
κλαίειν ὅς κε θάνῃσι βροτῶν καὶ πότμον ἐπίσπῃ. 
τοῦτό νυ καὶ γέρας οἷον οἰζυροῖσι βροτοῖσι, 
κείρασθαί τε κόμην βαλέειν τ᾽ ἀπὸ δάκρυ παρειῶν. 
Cf. Ibid. xix. 264. 

182 Thid. xxiv. 292. οὐδέ ἑ μήτηρ 
κλαῦσε περιστείλασα πατήρ θ᾽, οἵ μιν τεκόμεσθα᾽ 
οὐδ' ἄλοχος πολύδωρος, ἐχέρρων Πηνελόπεια, 
κὠκυσ᾽ ἐν λεχέεσσίὶν ἑὸν πόσιν, ὡς ἐπεώπκει, 
ὀρθαλμοὺς καθελοῦσα᾽ τὸ γὰρ γέρας ἐστὶ θανόντων. 


Cf. Ibid. 190; ΤΠ. xi. 452; xxi. 123; xxii. 426. 


46 The Consolations of Death 


this sad satisfaction the mother of Hector considered the climax 
of their woes—‘“ Now sitting in the hall let us weep afar off, even 
this did powerful fate with its thread spin for him at that time 
when he was born.”!** And his father was willing to risk his life 
for this mournful gratification. “Let Achilles straightway slay 
me when I have taken my son in my arms and sent forth my 
desire of lamentation.’’* 

Yet as the good nurse says in conforting Penelope, “It is an 
evil to grieve always and never cease.’’!*° Hence we have the 
Stoic objection to a display of grief which furnishes a motive 
frequently employed by consolers: namely, the uselessness of grief 
and the impossibility of bringing back the dead by our tears. And 
Niobe is often referred to as a sad example of excessive mourning. 156 

In the interesting scene between Achilles and Priam, the hero 
is touched by the grief of the old man and endeavors to stay his 
tears—‘‘ Although greatly afflicted, we shall let our sorrows lie 
quietly in our hearts for no advantage comes of chill lament.”’ 187 
Again he comforts him, “keep courage and lament not unceasingly 
in thy heart. For thou wilt avail nothing by grieving for thy 
son, neither wilt thou bring him back to life.’’48* Similar advice 
was given to the Homeric Menelaus—“No more, son of Atreus, 
weep for a long time thus obstinately; since we shall find no help 
therein.’’1®° 


183 T], xxiv. 208. viv δὲ κλαίωμεν ἄνευθεν 
ἥμενοι ἐν μεγάρῳ τῷ δ᾽ ὥς ποθι Μοῖρα κραταιὴ 
γιγνομένω ἐπένησε λίνῳ, ὅτε μιν τέκον αὐτή, 

184 Thid. xxiv. 226. αὐτίκα γάρ με κατατείνειεν ᾿Αχιλλεὺς 
ἀγκὰς ἑλόντ᾽ ἐμὸν υἱόν, ἐπὴν γόου ἐξ ἔρον 
εἵην. 

185 Odyss. xvill. 174. ἐπεὶ κάκιον πενθήμεναι ἄκριτον αἰεί. 

Cf. Ibid. xix. 190; Soph., Antig. 883; Verg., Aen. 11.74. 
186 Soph., El. 150ff.; Antig. 823; Stob., iii.124; ad Apoll. 
116C; Ciec., T. Ὁ. iii. xxvi, xxviii. 
187 ΤΊ xxiv. 522. ἄλγεα δ᾽ ἔμπης 
ἐν θυμῷ κατακεῖσθαι ἐάσομεν ἀχνύμενοί περ᾽ 
οὐ γάρ τις πρῆξις πέλεται κρυεροῖο γόοιο. 
Cf. Ibid. ix. 408; Sen., Polyb. xxi; Mare. vi. 

188 Thid. xxiv. 549. ἄνσχεο, μηδ᾽ ἀλίαστον ὀδύρεο σὸν κατὰ θυμόν᾽ 
οὐ γάρ τι πρήξεις ἀκαχήμενος υἷος ἑῆος, 
οὐδέ μιν ἀνστήσεις, 

Cf. Cons., ad Liv. 427. 

189 Odyss.iv.543. μηκέτι, Ατρέος υἱὲ, πολὺν χρόνον ἀσκελὲς οὕτω 

κλαῖ᾽, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἄνυσίν τινα δήομεν" 


In Ancient Greek Literature 47 


This uselessness of grief is emphasized also in the tragic poets. 
Thus we have the Chorus employing it to comfort Electra in 
Sophocles’ play of that name, “Yet still thou wilt never raise thy 
father at least from the lake of Pluto which is common to all, 
neither by shrieks nor prayers. . . . In matters wherein there 
is no release from evil, why, I pray thee, dost thou give thyself up 
to unbearable grief.’'°° And calming the grief of Admetus— 
“thee the goddess has seized in the grasp of her hands, from 
which there is no escape, but bear it for thou wilt never by weep- 
ing bring back on earth the dead from beneath.’’!*! | And in 
answer to his groans they tell him, “thou hast gone through 
grief I well know. . . . thou nothing aidest her that is below.’’!9? 
In like manner, in the Oedipus, Coloneus sympathizing with the 
daughters of Oedipus—“‘but since he has happily at least, dear 
virgins, finished the term of life, cease from this sorrow, for there 
is no one who will not be seized by misfortune.” Theseus adds 
his voice to theirs—“‘cease, virgins, from your weeping; for in 
those cases where joy is stored up beneath the earth, we ought 
not to mourn, for there would be just indignation.”’!™ 

The Hecuba of Euripides, taught by misfortune the uselessness 
of striving against her troubles, thus advises Andromache— 
“But do thou, dear child, dismiss the fortunes of Hector; thy tears 
cannot restore him.”®° And the same author has Theoclymenus 


190]. 137. ἀλλ᾽ οὔτοι τόν γ᾽ ἐξ ᾿Δίδα 
παγκοίνου λίμνας πατέρ᾽ av— 
στάσεις οὔτε γόοισιν οὔτ᾽ ἄνταις. . .. 
ἐν οἷς ἀνάλυσίς ἐστιν οὐδεμία κακῶν 
τί μοι τῶν δυσφόρων ἐφίει; Cf. Eur., Hec. 960. 

191 Kur., Ale. 984." καὶ σ᾽ ἐν ἀφύκτοισι χερῶν εἷλε θεὰ δεσμοῖς. 
τόλμα δ᾽᾽ οὐ γὰρ ἀνάξεις ποτ᾽ ἔνερθεν 
κλαίων τοὺς φθιμένους ἅνω. 

192) Tbid. 874. δι᾽ ὀδύνας ἔβας, σάφ᾽ οἶδα... .. 

τὰν νέρθε δ᾽ οὐδὲν ὠφελεῖς. 
198 Soph., O. C. 1720. ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεὶ ὀλβίως γ᾽ ἔλυσεν 
τὸ τέλος, ὦ φίλαι, βίου, 
λήγετε τοῦ δ᾽ ἄχους. κακῶν γὰρ δυσάλωτος 
οὐδείς. 
194Tbid. 1751. παύετε θρήνων, παῖδες ἐν οἷς γὰρ 
χάρις ἡ χθονία ξύν᾽ ἀπόκειται, 
πενθεῖν οὐ χρή νέμεσις γάρ. 
Theseus here performs his usual office of consoler. Cf. H. F.; 
Supp. 

196 Troad. 697. ἀλλ᾽, ὦ φίλη παῖ, Tas μὲν “Ἑκτορος τύχας 

ἔασον᾽ οὐ μὴ δάκρυά νιν σώσῃ τὰ TH 


48 The Consolations of Death 


give similar advice to Helen in her pretended grief for Menelaus, 
“but do thou, wretched one, not for things that cannot be mended 
. wasting away thyself. But Menelaus has his lot and thy 
husband being dead cannot live.’ Also Heracles to Admetus: 
Her. “Do not I pray thee go beyond all bounds, but bear it in 
conformity to fate.” Ad. “It is easier to exhort than suffering 
to endure.” Her. “But what advantage can you gain if you 
wish to groan forever? ’’!®? 

Neither by bewailing shall I heal anything,” says Archilochus, 
“nor shall I make it worse by attending to pleasure and 
banquets.’’1% 

In the letter to Xanthippe after the death of Socrates, this 
thought is dwelt upon: “Pray do not weep any more for it will 
not help and it may do harm. Remember what Socrates said and 
try to follow his practice and precepts, since by grieving you will 
wrong both yourself and your children. . . . "199 

Not only is grief useless but the display of it is unbecoming the 
dignity of a noble man. 

Amphitryo, in Euripides (Hercules, Furens 1204), appeals to 
the dignity of Hercules when endeavoring to moderate his grief. 
“O child, let go thy garment from thine eyes; throw it away; 
show thy face to the sun. Thy dignity contesting struggles 
against tears.2°° The same author, in Iphigenia in Aulis 446, 


196 Hel. 1285. σὺ δ᾽, ὦ τάλαινα, μὴ re τοῖς ἀνηνύτοις 

τρύχουσα cauTnv.... Μενέλεως δ᾽ ἔχει πότμον, 
κοὐκ ἂν δύναιτο Sav ὁ κατθανὼν πόσις. 

197 Kur., Ale. 1077. μὴ νυν ὑπέρβαλλ᾽, ἀλλ᾽ ἐναισίμως φέρε. 

ῥᾷον παραινεῖν ἢ παθόντα καρτερεῖν. 
τί 6 ἂν προκόπτοις, εἰ θέλοις ἀεὶ στένειν; 
Cf. Apoll. Rh., Argon. 1. 295, ii. 880. 

198 Bergk, ii. Archil. 13. (53.) οὔτε τι yap κλαίων ἰήσομαι οὔτε 

κάκιον θήσω τερπωλὰς καὶ θαλίας ἐφέπων. 

199 Xen., Op. iv. p. 289. Ep. viii τῶν δὲ πολλῶν σοι δακχρύων, 
ὠγαθή, ἄλις. ὀνήσει yap οὐδέν, σχεδὸν δέ τι καὶ βλάψει. ἀναμι- 
μνήσκου γὰρ ὧν ἔλεγε Σωκράτης καὶ τοῖς ἤθεσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς 
λόγοις πειρῶ ἀκολουθεῖν ἐπεὶ λυπουμένη Tap’ ἕκαστα καὶ σεαυτὴν 
ἀδικήσεις καὶ τοὺς παῖδας. 

200 ᾧ τέκον πάρες am’ ὀμμάτων 
πέπλον ἀπόδικε, ῥέθος ἀελίῳ δεῖξον. 
βάρος ἀντίπαλον, δακρύοις συναμιλλαταί. 

Cf. Soph., Trach. 1200; Ai. 319; Eur., Η. F. 1227, 1248, 1412; 
Cic., ad Fam. iv. 5; iv. 6; ad Brut. i. 9; Cons., ad Liv. 345; Sen., 
Polyb. xxiv, xxv; Hier., Ep. lx. 14. 


In Ancient Greek Literature | 49 


has Agamemnon complain of this dignity which deprives him of 
the liberty of yielding to his feelings. “But thus lowness of 
birth has some advantage. For such persons are at liberty to 
weep and say all kinds of things. But to him who is of noble 
birth all these miserable things belong. We have our dignity 
as ruler of our life and are slaves to the multitude. For I am 
ashamed indeed to let fall the tear; yet again, I, wretched, am 
ashamed not to weep having come into the greatest calamity.’?™ 

Plato well elaborates this in his Republic 387D: “We say 
that the good man will not consider death terrible to any other 
good man who is his comrade. . . ._ And therefore he will not 
sorrow for him as if he had suffered something terrible. . 
And therefore he will lament least and will bear with greatest 
moderation any misfortune of this sort which may happen. . 
Then rightly shall we remove the lamentations of famous men, 
and we shall assign them to women—not even excellent women— 
and to cowardly men.” 

The author of the Consolatio ad Apollonium uses this as a 
motive to calm the grief of his friend. ‘They say that he who 
instituted laws for the Lycians commanded the citizens, when 
they mourned to put on women’s apparel, wishing to show that 


201 ἡ δυσγένεια δ᾽ ws ἔχει τι χρήσιμον. 
καὶ γὰρ δακρῦσαι ῥᾳδίῳς αὐτοῖς ἔχει, 
ἄπαντά τ᾽ εἰπεῖν. τῷ δὲ γενναίῳ φύσιν 
ἄνολβα ταῦτα. προστάτην δὲ τοῦ βίου 
τὸν ὄγκον ἔχομεν τῷ τ᾽ ὄχλῳ δουλεύομεν. 
ἐγὼ γὰρ ἐκβαλεῖν μὲν αἰδοῦμαι δάκρυ, 
τὸ μὴ δακρῦσαι δ᾽ αὖθις αἰδοῦμαι τάλας, 
ἐς τὰς μεγίστας συμφορὰς ἀφιγμένος. 
Cf. Soph., Antig. 1246; note 208. 

2022 οαμὲν δὲ δή, ὅτι ὁ ἐπιειρεὴς ἀνὴρ TH ἐπιεικεῖ, οὗπερ καὶ ἑταῖρός 
ἐστιν, τὸ τεθνάναι οὐ δεινὸν ἡγήσεται. .. οὐκ ἄρα ὑπέρ γ᾽ ἐκείνου 
ὡς δεινόν τι πεπονθότος ὀδύροιτ᾽ Gv. ... ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τόδε λέγ- 
ομεν, ὡς ὁ τοιοῦτος μάλιστα αὐτὸς αὑτῷ αὐτάρκης πρὸς τὸ εὖ ζῆν καὶ 
διαφερόντως τῶν ἄλλων ἥκιστα ἑτέρου προσδεῖται... .. ἥκιστα 
ἄρ᾽ αὐτῷ δεινὸν στερηθῆναι υἱέος ἤ ἀδελφοῦ ἤ χρημάτων ἤ ἄλλου του 
τῶν τοιούτων... ἥκιστ᾽ ἄρα καὶ ὀδύρεσθαι. φέρειν δὲ ὡς πραότατα, 
ὅταν τις αὐτὸν τοιαύτη ξυμφορὰ καταλάβῃ... ὀρθῶς Gp ἂν ἐξαιρ- 
οἴμεν τοὺς θρήνους τῶν ὀνομαστῶν ἀνδρῶν, γυναιξὶ δὲ ἀποδιδοῖμεν, 
καὶ οὐδὲ ταύταις σπουδαίαις, καὶ ὅσοι κακοὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν, ἵνα ἡμῖν 
δυσχεραίνωσιν ὅμοια τούτοις ποιεῖν os δή φαμεν ἐπὶ φυλακῇ τῆς 
χώρας τρέφειν. Cf. Cic., T. D. iii. xxi, xxii; Mein. iv. p. 353 1.480. 


50 The Consolations of Death 


sorrow was an effeminate thing, and therefore was not suitable 
for self-possessed men or men claiming a liberal education.’*® 

A further reason sometimes urged to repress excessive grief is 
the evil effects which result from it. Plato frequently mentions 
the evils caused by indulging in sorrow?” and the author of the 
Consolatio ad Apollonium makes use of them as a motive for 
consolation.2% Plutarch also in his letter of consolation to his 
wife speaks of the danger of allowing grief to take possession of the 
heart; for when it is fully established, it is hard to dislodge. Where- 
fore, it should be kept out by avoiding the outward marks of 
sorrow.” 

In connection with the foregoing τόποι, stress is laid on the 
necessity of applying the great precept, “‘ Nothing in excess,” to 
grief as well as to every other circumstance of life. 

Plato in his Republic censures the poets who introduce their 
heroes lamenting excessively over their misfortunes. “‘ You 
know that, somehow, the best of us, hearing Homer or some other 
of the poets imitating some of the heroes when in grief pouring 
forth long speeches in their sorrow or bewailing and beating their 
breasts, are delighted; and yielding ourselves, we follow and 
sympathise with them, seriously praising him as a good poet who 
most affects us in this manner. . . . But whenever domestic 
grief happens to any one of us, you observe on the other hand 
that we pride ourselves on the opposite behaviour, if we can be 
quiet and endure; this latter is the part of a man, that which we 
then praised is the part of a woman.’?%” 


205 112K. τόν τῶν Λυκίων νομοθέτην φασὶ προστάξαι τοῖς αὑτοῦ 
πολίταις, ἐπὰν πενθῶσι, γυναικείαν ἀμφιεσαμένους ἐσθῆτα πενθεῖν, 
ἐμφαίνειν βουληθέντα ὅτι γυναικῶδες τὸ πάθος καὶ οὐχ ἁρμόττον 
ἀνδράσι κωμίοις καὶ παιδείας ἐλευθερίου μεταπεποιημένοις. Cf. 
Cic., ad Fam. iv. 5. 

204 Laws 727D; Rep. 430A, 606; Menex. 247. Cf. 102C, 112E, 
114E, 117F. Cf. Bacchy., xvii. frg. 8; Mein., p.351, 1.414, p.349, 
1.316; Cic., T. D. iv. xvi, xvii. 

206 117, πολλοὶ τῶν ἐπὶ πλέον πενθησάντων per’ ob πολὺ τοῖς 
ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν κατοδυρθεῖσιν ἐπηκολούθησαν, οὐδὲν Ex τοῦ πένθους ὄφελος 
περιποιησάμενοι, μάτην δ᾽ ἑαυτοὺς καταικισάμενοι ταῖς κακουχίαις. 

206 ad Ux. 609F. ff. Cf. Luc., de Luctu 12. 

207 Rep. 605C. ἀκούων σκόπει. of yap που βέλτιστοι ἡμῶν 
ἀκροωμένοι ‘Ounpov ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν τραγῳδιοποιῶν μιμουμένου 
τινὰ τῶν ἡρώων ἐν πένθει ὄντα καὶ μακρὰν 'ρῆσιν ἀποτείνοντα ἐν 
τοῖς ὀδυρμοῖς ἢ καὶ ἄδοντὰς τε καὶ κοπτομένους, οἶσθ᾽ ὅτι χαίρομέν 


In Ancient Greek Literature 51 


Elsewhere in the same book he remarks, “ We said somewhere, 
said I, that a good man, meeting with such a misfortune as losing 
his son or anything else which he values highly will bear it more 


easily than other men. . . . But now we shall consider this 
whether he will not grieve at all, or that this is impossible but he 
will moderate his grief. . . . Tell me this now about him, 


whether do you think he will fight against grief and oppose it 
more when he is observed by his equals or when he is in solitude 
alone by himself? It will make much difference when he is seen. 
When he is alone, I think he will dare and utter many things of 
which he would be ashamed if any one heard him and he will do 
many things which he would not wish any one to see him doing. 

Is it not reason and law commanding him to resist on the 
one hand, and passion exciting the wound with regard to the grief 
on the other?’’?% 

And in the Laws he tells us, “It is unseemly to order, or not, 
persons to weep for the dead. But to forbid them to wail loudly 
and to send the voice like a messenger out of the house.’ 

Plutarch writes in the same strain. “Excessive grief, or fear, 
or joy of the soul, not mere joy, grief or fear, is like to a body 


τε καὶ ἐνδόντες ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἑπόμεθα ξυμπάσχοντες καὶ σπουδ- 
ἀζοντες ἐπαινοῦμεν ὡς ἀγαθὸν ποιητήν, ὃς ἂν ἡμᾶς 6 τι μάλιστα 
οὕτω διαθῃ... ὅταν δὲ οἰκεῖόν τινι ἡμῶν κῆδος γένηται, ἐννοεῖς 
αὖ ὅτι ἐπὶ τῷ ἐναντίῳ καλλωπιζόμεθα, ἂν δυνώμεθα ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν 
καὶ καρτερεῖν, ὡς τοῦτο μὲν ἀνδρὸς ὄν, ἐκεῖνο δὲ γυναικός, ὃ τότε 
ἐπῃνοῦμεν. 

Cf. Laws 732B; Cic., T. D. ii. xi. 

208 Tbid. 603E. ἀνήρ, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, ἐπιεικὴς τοιᾶσδε τύχης μετα- 
σχών, υἱὸν ἀπολέσας ἢ τι ἄλλο ὧν περὶ πλείστου ποιεῖται, ἐλέγομέν 
που καὶ τότε ὅτι ῥᾷστα οἴσει τῶν ἄλλων. πάνυ γε. νῦν δέ γε τόδ᾽ 
ἐπιοκεψώμεθα, πότερον οὐδὲν ἀχθέσεται, ἢ τοῦτο μὲν ἀδύνατον, μετρι- 
ἀσει δέ πως πρὸς λύπην. οὕτω ... τόδε νῦν μοι περὶ αὐτοῦ εἰπέ; 
πότερον μᾶλλον αὐτὸν οἴει τῇ λύπῃ μαχεῖσθαί τε καὶ ἀντιτείνειν, 
ὅταν ὁρᾶται ὑπὸ τῶν ὁμοίων, ἢ ὅταν ἐν ἐρημίᾳ μόνος αὐτὸς xal’ 
αὑτὸν γίγνηται; πολὺ που. .. μονωθεὶς δέ γε, οἶμαι, πολλὰ μὲν 
τολμήσει φθέγξασθαι, ἃ εἴ τις αὐτοῦ ἀκούοι αἰσχύνοιτ᾽ ἄν, πολλὰ 
δὲ ποιήσει, ἃ οὐκ ἂν δέξαιτό τινα ἰδεῖν δρῶντα... οὐκοῦν τὸ μὲν 
ἀντιτείνειν διακελευόμενον λόγος καὶ νόμος ἐστί, τὸ δὲ ἕλκον ἐπὶ 
τὰς λύπας αὐτὸ τὸ πάθος. CF. Luc., de Luctui. 15; Epict., Ench. v; 
Sen., de Trang. An. xv. Cic., T. Ὁ. III. 26, says men show grief 
because they think it is the right thing to do. 

209 959E. δακρύειν μὲν τὸν τετελευτηκότα, ἐπιτάττειν ἢ μὴ, 
ἄμορφον. θρηνεῖν δὲ καὶ ἔξω τῆς οἰκίας φωνὴν ἐξαγγέλλειν, 
ἀπαγορεύειν. 


52 The Consolations of Death 


swollen or inflamed.2!° And the pseudo-Plutarch warns his friend 
against it. “ΤῸ mourn excessively and to accumulate grief, I say, 
is unnatural and results from a foolish opinion we have of it; 
therefore, we ought to shun it as injurious and worthless and most 
unbecoming a virtuous man, but to be moderately affected by grief 
must not be condemned. . . . Therefore the saying is con- 
sidered a worthy one that in such accidents wise men will neither 
be without any passion nor grieve excessively. . . . For it is 
the part of a wise and well educated man to be the same in regard 
to any prosperous event, and in regard to misfortune to nobly 
_ preserve what is fitting.’’?"! 

In this point the Stoics are not consistent with their principles; 
for, notwithstanding their doctrine of ἀπάθεια, they admit that a 
man cannot be wholly free from mental affections, but he can 
modify them and not let them get the mastery.?” 

We find Plutarch in his simple and tender letter of condolence 
to his wife making certain concessions to nature: “1 fear if we put 
aside our grief, we may put aside also the remembrance of her.’’?4 
And again, “Only, my dear wife, let us both take care in this 
present suffering. I myself know and see how great the misfortune 
is; but if I should find you grieving excessively, this would trouble 
me more than the event itself.’* After praising the fortitude 
and moderation which he heard she had shown in the trying cir- 
cumstance, he continues, “for not only ought the chaste woman to 
remain incorrupt in the Bacchanalian revels; but she ought to 


210 de Vir. Mor. 452A. οἰδοῦντι yap ἔοικε καὶ φλεγμαίνοντι 
σώματι TO περιαλγοῦν καὶ περιχαρὲς καὶ περίφοβον τῆς Ψυχῆς, ov 
τὸ χαῖρον οὐδὲ τὸ λυπούμενον οὐδὲ τὸ ροβούμενον. 

211 ad Apoll. 102D, E, 103A. τὸ δὲ πέρα τοῦ μετρίου παρε- 
κφέρεσθαι καὶ συναύξειν τὰ πένθη παρὰ φύσιν εἶναί φημι καὶ ὑπὸ 
τὴς ἐν ἡμῖν φαύλης γίγνεσθαι δόξης. διὸ καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ἐατέον ws 
βλαβερὸν καὶ φαῦλον καὶ σπουδαίοις ἀνδράσιν ἥκιστα πρέπον, τὴν 
δὲ μετριοπάθειαν οὐκ ἀποδοκιμαστέον. . .. οὔτ᾽ οὖν ἀπαθεῖς ἐπὶ 
τῶν τοιούτων συμφορῶν ὁ λόγος ἀξιοῖ γίγνεσθαι τοὺς εὖ φρονοῦντας 
οὔτε δυσπαθεῖς. ... πεπαιδευμένων δ᾽ ἐστί καὶ σωφρόνων ἀνδρῶν 
πρός τε τὰς δοκούσας εὐτυχίας τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι, καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἀτυχίας 
φυλάξαι γενναίως τὸ πρέπον. 

212 Zeller, c. ix; Sen., Marc. vii; Polyb. xxxvii. 

218 ἢ Ux. 608D. ἀλλὰ καὶ δέδια πάλιν, μὴ συνεκβάλωμεν τῷ 
λυποῦντι τὴν μνήμην. 

214 Thid. 608C. μόνον, ὦ γύναι, τήρει κἀμὲ τῷ πάθει καὶ σεαυτὴν 
ἐπὶ τοῦ καθεστῶτος" ἐγὼ γὰρ αὐτὸς μὲν οἶδα καὶ ὁρίζω τὸ συμβε- 
βηκὸς ἡλίκον ἐστίν ἂν δέ σε τῷ δυσφορεῖν ὑΧΈΡΡΑΚΑΝΗΡΟΣ εὕρω, 
τοῦτό μοι μᾶλλον ἐνοχλήσει τοῦ γεγονότος. 


~ 


In Ancient Greek Literature © 53 


consider her self-control not less necessary in the surges of sorrow 
and emotion of grief, contending, not against natural affection, 
as most people think, but against the excesses of the soul.” 

Nor does the author of the Consolatio ad Apollonium advise his 
friend to lay aside all grief, for “ἴο be distressed and grieve for 
the death of a son is the natural beginning of sorrow and it is not 
in our power to prevent it. For I do not approve of those who 
boast of a stern and harsh apathy which is not possible, and is of 
no use, for it would destroy the benevolence of loving and being 
loved which is above all necessary to be preserved.’”?"® 

Fo the necessity of applying the maxim μηδὲν ἄγαν to grief, the 
same author adds the advisibility of reflecting on the other sentence 
inscribed on the Delphic oracle—yva& cavr6v—for having the 
precept of the oracle impressed upon the mind is a great help to 
easily conform to all the affairs of life and to bear them well.2!7 

A further τόπος of consolation relating to lamentation and 
mourning and one which appeals to the natural affections of the 
mourner is that the deceased would not wish to see those whom he 
loves grieve. ‘“‘As your son when he was living with you did not 
wish to see you or his mother sad, so now when he is with the gods 
and feasting with them he would not be pleased with your manner 
of acting.’’28 


215 Tbid. 609A. οὐ γάρ ‘ ἐν βακχευμασι bet μόνον τὴν σώφρονα 
μένειν ἀδιάφθορον, ἀλλὰ μηδὲν οἴεσθαι ἧττον τόν ἐν πένθεσι 
σάλον καὶ τὸ κίνημα τοῦ πάθους Eyxpareias δεῖσθαι διαμαχομένης 
οὐ πρὸς τὸ φιλόστοργον, ὡς of πολλοὶ νομίζουσιν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ 
ἀκόλαστον τῆς Ψυχῆς. 

2:6 102C. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀλγεῖν καὶ δάκνεσθαι τελευτήσαντος υἱοῦ 
φυσικὴν ἔχει τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς λύπης, καὶ οὐκ ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν. οὐ γὰρ ἔγωγε 
συμφέρομαι τοῖς ὑμνοῦσι τὴν ἄγριον καὶ σκληρὰν ἀπάθειαν, ἔξω 
καὶ τοῦ δυνατοῦ καὶ τοῦ συμφέροντος οὖσαν ἀφαιρήσεται γὰρ 
ἡμῶν αὔτη τὴν ἐκ τοῦ φιλεῖσθαι καὶ φιλεῖν εὔνοιαν,ἣν παντὸς μᾶλλον 
διασῴζειν ἀναγκαῖον. 

Cf. Hor., Od. i. xxiv, ii-x. 

217 ad Apoll. 116D.; Cic., T. Ὁ. i. xxii; Mein., p. 356 1.584. 

218 η4 Apoll.121F. ὡς γὰρ οὐδὲ συμβιῶν ἡμῖν ἡδέως ἑώρα κατηφεῖς 
ὄντας οὔτε σὲ οὔτε τὴν μητέρα, οὕτως οὐδὲ νῦν μετὰ θεῶν ὧν καὶ 
τούτοις συνεστιώμενος εὐαρεστήσειεν ἂν τῇ τοιαύτῃ ὑμῶν διαΎ ὡΎῇ. 
Cf. Luc., de Luctu 16ff.; Cons., ad Liv. 467; Sen.,: Marc. iii; 
Polyb. xxiii ff.; Cie., T. D. iii-xxix; n. 341. 

For the opposite view that mourning gives comfort to the dead 
see Headlam, p. 233, n. 2; also epitaph of Solon, Bergk, Poet. 
Lyr. Solon 21. (21.). . 


54 The Consolations of Death 


CHAPTER IX 
CONSOLATION THROUGH RECOLLECTION OF PAST JOYS 


For the mourner to turn his attention to the thought of the 
pleasure which had been experienced in the company of the loved 
one is considered by some an efficacious means of mitigating 
sorrow. This gives rise to another réros of consolation; namely, 
the memory of the past pleasures should help dissipate grief. 

Plutarch uses this in his letter of consolation to his wife. Speak- 
ing to her of the affectionate and winning ways of their little 
daughter, he adds, “1 see no reason, my dear wife, why these and 
such things that gave us delight in her life time, should now, when 
recalled to memory, grieve and trouble us. . . . But as she 
gave us the greatest pleasure in embracing her and even in seeing 
and hearing her, so ought her memory living and dwelling with 
us give us more, many times more joy than grief.’ “We ought 
not to erase from our memory the two years she was with us but 
consider them a pleasure since they furnished enjoyment and 
delight; and not deem a blessing of short duration as a great evil, 
nor be unthankful for what was given us because fortune did not 
give us it as long a time as we wished.’’””° 

And continuing he adds a further means of consolation—the 
recollection of the blessings we still enjoy. “‘He who in such cases 
mostly tries to remember his blessings and turns and diverts his 
mind from the dark and disturbing things in life to the bright 
ones, either altogether suppresses his grief or makes it small and 
dim from a comparison with his comforts.’”??! 


219 ad Ux. 608D, E. ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὁρῶ, γύναι, διὰ τί ταῦτα καὶ τὰ 
τοιαῦτα ζώσης μὲν ἔτερπεν ἡμᾶς νυνὶ δ᾽ ἀνιάσει καὶ συνταράξει, 
λαμβάνοντας ἐπίνοιαν αὐτῶν... . δεῖ γὰρ, ὥσπερ αὐτὴ πάντων 
ἥδιστον ἡμῖν ἄσπασμα καὶ θέαμα καὶ ἄκουσμα παρεῖχεν ἑαυτήν 
οὕτω καὶ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν αὐτῆς ἐνδιαιτᾶσθαι καὶ συμβιοῦν ἡμῖν πλέον 
ἔχουσαν, μᾶλλον δὲ πολλαπλάσιον, τὸ εὐφραῖνον ἢ τὸ λυποῦν᾽. .. 
Cf. Apoll. Ty., xciii; Sen., Mare. iii; Polyb. xxix; Hor., Od. i. 24. 

220 Thid. 610E. τὴν δ᾽ ἐν μέσῳ διετίαν ἐξαιρεῖν μὲν οὐ δεῖ τῆς 
μνήμης, ὡς δὲ χάριν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν παρασχοῦσαν ἐν ἡδονῇ τίθεσθαι" 
καὶ μὴ τὸ μικρὸν ἀγαθὸν μέγα νομίζειν κακόν᾽ μηδ᾽ ὅτι τὸ ἐλπιΐζ- 
ὀμενον οὐ προσέθηκεν ἡ τύχη, καὶ περὶ τοῦ δοθέντος ἀχαριστεῖν. 
Cf. Hier., Ep. lx. 7. 

221 Tbid. 61OE. ἐν δὲ τοῖς τοιούτοις ὁ μάλιστα τῆς μνήμης τῶν 
ἀγαθῶν ἀπαρυτόμενος καὶ τοῦ βίου πρὸς τὰ φωτεινὰ καὶ λαμπρὰ 


In Ancient Greek Literature 55 


In his essays Plutarch mentions this motive several times. 
“It is good when things happen against our wish not to overlook 
‘how many pleasant and agreeable things happen to us, but by 
mingling the evils with the good diminish them.’*” “Why, my 
dear Sir, do you regard so intently your troubles, keeping them 
always vivid and fresh while you do not turn your attention to 
your present good?’’3 “Tt is madness to be distressed over what 
is lost and not to rejoice at what is left.”** “‘Men turning from 
the pleasant and agreeable things occupy themselves with the 
remembrance of unpleasant things.” “‘For those of us who are 
sensible make our life pleasanter and more endurable by mitigating 
our sorrows with the consideration of our blessings, while with 
many people as with sieves the worse things remain and adhere 
to them while the best pass through.””° 

The effect of time on all things human has suggested to consolers 
another τόπος for calming grief. “All-subduing” time”’ will 
have its influence on sorrow and will soften pain and dull the sharp 
edges of grief. 

The Homeric Menelaus realized its influence on his mourning 
for his lost companions. “Yet awhile I satisfy my soul with 
lamentation and then again I cease; for soon there is enough of 
chill lamentation.” 


μεταστρέρων καί μεταφέρων ἐκ τῶν σκοτεινῶν καὶ ταρακτικῶν τὴν 
διάνοιαν, ἢ πατάπασιν ἔσβεσε τὸ λυποῦν ἢ τῇ πρὸς τοὐναντίον 
μίξει μυκρὸν καὶ ἀμαυρὸν ἐποίησεν. Cf. Epict., frg. 8, p. 482; Sen., 
Mare. xii; Polyb. xxx ff.; Helv. xvii; Ep. 99.3; Cons., ad Liv. 377. 

222 de Tranq. An. 469A. ἀγαθὸν τοίνυν ἐν τοῖς ἀβουκόνῶς συμ- 
πτώμασι πρὸς εὐθυμίαν καὶ τὸ μὴ παρορᾶν ὅσα προσφιλῆ καὶ ἀστεῖα 
πάρεστιν ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ μιγνύντας ἐξαμαυροῦν τὰ χείρονα τοῖς βελτίοσι. 

223 Thid. 469B. τί τὸ σεαυτοῦ κακόν, ὦ μακάριε, λίαν καταβλέτπεις 
καὶ ποιεῖς ἐναργὲς ἀεὶ καὶ πρόσφατον ἀγαθοῖς δὲ παροῦσιν οὐ προ- 
σάγεις τὴν διάνοιαν,. .. Cf. Cons., ad Liv. 411. 

2334 Thid. 4690). μανικὸν γάρ ἔστι τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις ἀνιᾶσθαι μὴ 
χαίρειν δὲ τοῖς σῳζομένοις, . .. 

225 Thid. 473E. ἅνθρωποι τῶν ἱλαρῶν καὶ προσηνῶν ἀπορρέοντες 
ἐμπλέκωνται ταῖς τῶν ἀηδῶν ἀναμνήσεσι᾽ 

226 de Ex. 6000). ἀλλ᾽ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν οἱ μὲν νοῦν ἔχοντες ἐκ τῶν 
ἀγαθῶν τοῖς κακοῖς ἐπαρυτόμενοι τὸν βίον ποιοῦσιν ἡδίω καὶ ποτι- 
μώτερον, τοῖς δὲ πολλοῖς ὥσπερ ἠθμοῖς ἐμμένει καὶ προσίσχεται 
τὰ φαυλότατα, τῶν βελτιόνων ὑπεκρεόντων. 

227 Bacchy., xii. 205; π. 313; Sen., Marc. viii. Dolorem dies 
consumit. 

228 Odyss. iv. 102. ἅλλοτε μέν τε γόῳ φρένα τέρπομαι, ἅλλοτε δ᾽ 

αὖτε παύομαι αἰψηρὸς δὲ κόρος κρυεροῖο γόοιο. 


56 The Consolations of Death 


“Time is a lenient god,’’* the chorus assures Electra (Sophocles, 
Electra 179). There are similar passages in Euripides’ Alcestis. 
“Time will soften thy grief: he that is dead is nothing.” “Time 
will soften the evil but now it is still strong.’ 

In the Anthology under the name of Plato we have, “Time 
bears away all things. A long time knows how to change names, 
and forms, and nature, and even fortune.’ Philetas says, 
“but since time comes which is appointed by Jove to soften 
sorrow, and it alone has a remedy for griefs.’* ‘All things 
yield to time,” says Simonides of Ceos, “with its sharp teeth it 
grates down everything, even the strongest.” The ps.-Plutarch 
advises his friend to consider the effect that time has had on the 
grief of others and apply it to his own, for time will assuage it 
ἴοο. 335 


3229 χρόνος γὰρ εὐμαρὴς θεός. 
280 881. χρόνος μαλάξει σ᾽ οὐδέν ἐσθ᾽ ὁ κατθανὼν. 
Cf. Soph., O. C. 437. 
2311085. χρόνος μαλάξει, νῦν δ᾽ ἔσθ᾽ ἡβάσκει κακόν. 
Cf. Cic., ad Fam. iv.5; T. D. ili. xxii. 
232 Bergk, ii. Plato 19. 
Alay πάντα φέρει. δολιχὸς χρόνος οἶδεν ἀμείβειν 
οὔνομα καὶ μορφὴν καὶ φύσιν ἠδὲ τύχην. 
Cf. Aeschy., Eum. 280; Prom. 981; Bacchy., xvii. 45; Campbell, 
Frag. 598. 
233 Anth. Lyr. +» Phil. i. (1.) 
᾿Αλλ᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἐπὶ χρόνος ἔλθῃ, ὃς ἐκ Διὸς ἄλγεα πέσσειν 
ἔλλαχε, καὶ πενθέων φάρμακα μοῦνος ἔχει. 
Cf. Verg., Buc. Ecl. ix. 50; Hor., Ep. ii. ii. 
234 Anth. Lyr. Sim. 176. (66.) 
ὅ τοι χρόνος ὀξὺς ὀδόντας 
πάντα καταψὴχει καὶ τὰ βιαιότατα. 


435 ad Apoll. 115A. 


Ot 
“1 


In Ancient Greek Literature 


CHAPTER X 
IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 

However far back we go we find that an instinctive belief in a 
future life runs in an undercurrent through the whole course of 
Greek literature. But this belief assumes only a vague and 
shadowy form.2® Pindar (Olympian I), speaks of the fine 
rewards in Elysium which await the purified.’ Sophocles 
(fragment 753) gives us a glimpse of a similar vision. “Thrice 
blessed those of mortals who having beheld these mysteries come 
to Hades; for to them alone it is allowed to live there; but to the 
others there are all evils.”"* The same reward is held out by 
Euripides (fragment 852), but it is not limited to the initiated. 
“Whoever in life honors his parents, he is both when living and 
dead a friend to the gods.”* Sophocles represents Antigone (897) 
as cherishing a hope of meeting her parents and brother, and also 
Electra (832) anticipating the consolation of the hope of the future 
life suggested by the Chorus. Euripides has Admetus (Alcestis 
363), tell his wife to expect him in the other world and prepare a 
mansion for him.™° Yet in all this, the doctrine of immortality 
is not spoken of in a sufficiently definite manner to offer much as 
a real consolation for death.*! It is only in Plato”? and his 


436 Coulanges, “La Cité Antique,” i, c. ii; Perrot, “La Religion 
de la Mort;” Zeller, c. ix; Rhode, “Psyche” passim; Campbell, 
“Religion in Greek Literature” pp. 176ff. 

237 Olymp. ii. 61; Cf. frgg. 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 137. 

338 Nauck, 753. ὡς τρὶς ὄλβιοι 

κεῖνοι βροτῶν, of ταῦτα δερχθέντες τέλη 
μόλωσ᾽ ἐς “Αἰδου᾿ τοῖσδε γὰρ μόνοις ἐκεῖ 
ζῆν ἔστι, τοῖς δ᾽ ἄλλοισι πάντ᾽ ἐκεῖ κακά. 
For the ‘““Mysteries’’ see Campbell, “Religion in Greek Literature.” 

239 Nauck, 852. 

ὅστις δὲ τοὺς τεκόντας ἐν βίῳ σέβει, 

ὅδ᾽ ἐστὶ καὶ ζῶν καὶ θανὼν θεοῖς φίλος. 

Cf. frg. 1018. ὁ νοῦς γὰρ ἡμῶν ἐστιν ἐν ἑκάστῳ θεός. 
Kock, iii. p. 214; p. 6, 11; Aeschy., Choe. 323; Bergk, ii; ps.- 
Phocy., 115; n. 301. 

240 Cf. Fur., Hel. 1678, 1014; Hec. 422; I. A. 1608, 1621; Alc. 
744; Troad. 459; Aeschy., Agam. 1555; Choe. 323; notes 41, 134, 
247. 

#41 Resignation, rather than hope, was the characteristic virtue 
of the Greek. Where hope is used as a means of encouragement 
it is generally because τὸ δ᾽ ἀπορεῖν ἀνδρὸς κακοῦ. Eur., H. F. 
105. Cf. Butcher, “Some Aspects of the Greek Genius,” chapter 
on Melancholy of the Greeks, pp. 133ff. 

242 Phaedo passim; Apol. passim; Phaedr. 245; Rep. vi. 498, 


58 The Consolations of Death 


followers we find it dwelt upon to any extent as a motive for this 
purpose. 

The object of the discussion in the Phaedo was, as Socrates 
observes, to console himself and his friends by showing to them 
the advantages a philosopher gains by death.*%* And for this 
purpose he spends the last hours of his life trying to convince his 
disciples of the immortality of the soul. When the time for his 
death approached, Crito asked him what wishes he had regarding 
his children or other matters and how they should bury him. 
“Just as you please,”’ answered Socrates, “if only you can catch 
me and I do not escape from you.”” And at the same time smiling 
gently and looking round on us, he said, “I cannot persuade 
Crito, my friends, that I am that Socrates who is now conversing 
with you and who puts in shape each part of the discourse; but 
he thinks I am he whom he will shortly behold dead and asks 
how he ought to bury me. But that long argument which I have 
just made, that when I have drunk the poison I shall no longer 
remain with you, but going off I shall depart to some happy state 
of the blessed, this I seem to have said to him in vain, though I 
intended at the same time to console both you and myself.”™ 

The happiness reserved for the good in the future life is more 
particularly dwelt upon in the pseudo-Platonic Axiochus and 
it is effective in calming and consoling the dying philosopher. 
“You are not, Axiochus,” Socrates assures his dying friend, 
“changing your existence for death but for immortality; nor will 
you have a deprivation of good things but a still purer enjoyment 
of them; nor pleasure mixed up with a mortal body, but unmixed 


x. 608; Meno 81, 86; Gorg. 523A; Laws xii. 959B, 967E et alia 
Cic. T. D. i. passim; Somn. Scip. 

248 Cf. Archer-Hind, Phaedo, Introd. 

244 Phaedo, 115C. “Ὅπως ἂν, ἔφη, βούλησθε, ἐάνπερ γε λάβητε 
με, καὶ μὴ ἑκφύγω ὑμᾶς. Terdoas δὲ ἅμα ἡσυχῆ, καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς 
ἀποβλέψας, εἶπεν, οὐ πείθω, Eon, ὦ ἄνδρες, Κρίτωνα, ὡς ἔγώ εἰμι 
οὗτος ὁ Σωκράτης ὁ νμνὶ διαλεγόμενος, καὶ διατάττων ἔκαστον τῶν 
λεγομένων ἀλλ᾽ οἴεταί με ἐκεῖνον εἶναι ὃν ὄψεται ὀλίγον ὕστερον 
νεκρὸν, καὶ ἐρωτᾷ δὴ πῶς με θαπτῇ. ὅτι δὲ ἔγὼ πάλαι πολὺν 
λόγον πεποίημαι, ὡς ἐπειδὰν πίω τὸ ράρμακον, οὐκέτι ὑμῖν παραμενῶ, 
ἀλλ᾽ οἰχήσομαι ἀπιὼν εἰς μακάρων δή τινας ευδαιμονίας, ταῦτά 
μοι δοκῶ αὐτῷ ἄλλως λέγειν, παραμυθούμενος ἅμα μὲν ὑμᾶς, ἅμα 
δ᾽ ἐμαυτόν. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 59 


with every pain. For leaving this prison you will go there where 
all is without trouble, and moanings, and old age; and life is 
calm and with no taste of 11.355 . . Then relating to him the 
story heard from Gobryas of the joys of the blessed and the punish- 
ment of the wicked in the next world he concludes—* These 
things I heard from Gobryas; and you, Axiochus, can decide upon 
it. For carried along myself by reason I know firmly this alone, 
that the soul is wholly immortal and that when it is removed 
from this spot it is without pain. So above or below you must 
be happy, Axiochus, if you have lived piously.’’™* 

This consolation is made use of in the Consolatio ad Apollonium, 
but there is lacking that fullness and that note of certainty which 
add to the effectiveness of the preceding quotations. “Now if 
the saying of the ancient poets and philosophers is true, as is 
likely, that to the righteous there is a certain honor after their 
departure from this life, as it were the privilege of the first place, 
and a certain spot appointed in which their souls dwell, you ought 
to have fair hopes concerning your departed son that it is appointed 
for him to be numbered among these.’’™” 

The hope of glory and happiness in the future life furnishes 
one of the τόποι of consolation treated under the funeral orations 
in the following chapter.™* 


45 370C. ὥστε οὐκ εἰς θάνατον ἀλλ᾽ εἰς ἀθανασίαν μεταβάλλεις᾽ 
ὦ ᾿Αξίοχε᾽ οὐδὲ ἀφαίρεσιν ἕξεις τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ἀλλ᾽ εἰλικρινεστέραν 
τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν" οὐδε μεμιγμένας θνητῷ σώματι τὰς ἡδονὰς, ἀλλ᾽ 
ἀκράτους ἁπασῶν ἀλγηδόνων. κεῖσε γὰρ ἀφίξῃ, μονωθεὶς ἐκ 
τῆξςδε τῆς εἱρτῆς, ἔνθα ἄπονα πάντα καὶ ἀστένακτα καὶ ἀγήρατα, 
γαληνὸς δέ τις καὶ κακῶν ἄγονος βίος. 

Cf. Cic., Som. Scip. 3ff.; Sen., Marc. xxiv, xxv; n. 178. 

46 372A. ταῦτα μὲν ἐγὼ ἤκουσα παρὰ Γωβρύου" σὺ δ᾽ ἂν ἐπι- 
κρίνειας, ᾿Αξίοχε. ἐγὼ γὰρ λόγῳ ἀνθελκόμενος, τοῦτο μόνον ἐμπέδως 
οἶδα, ὅτι ψυχὴ ἅπασα ἀθάνατος" ἡ δὲ ἐκ τοῦδε τοῦ χωρίου μετα- 
σταθεῖσα, καὶ ἄλυπος. ὥστε ἢ κάτω ἢ ἄνω εὐδαιμονεῖν σε δεῖ, 
᾿Αξίοχε, βεβιωκότα εὐσεβῶς. 

2411 190B. εἰ δ᾽ ὁ τῶν παλαιῶν ποιητῶν τε καὶ φιλοσόρων λόγος 
ἐστὶν ἀληθὴς ὥσπερ εἰκὸς ἔχειν, οὕτω καὶ τοῖς εὐσεβέσι τῶν μετα- 
λλαξάντων ἔστι τις τιμὴ καὶ προεδρία καθάπερ λέγεται, καὶ χῶρός 
τις, ἀποτεταγμένος ἐν ᾧ διατρίβουσιν αἱ τούτων ψυχαί, καλὰς 
ἐλπίδας ἔχειν σε δεῖ περὶ τοῦ μακαρίτου υἱέος σου, ὅτι τούτοις 
συγκαταριθμηθεὶς συνέσται. 


248 Cf. notes 329-333, 338. 


60 The Consolations of Death 


CHAPTER XI 
GLORY IN DEATH 


If the belief in the immortality of the soul was so vague and 
indefinite among the Greeks that it could furnish little as a means 
of consolation for death, it was far otherwise in the case of a 
glorious death. The hope of an immortal renown was a strong 
incentive for them to meet death calmly and gladly. To die 
when prosperous or when performing some noble deed was con- 
sidered a fitting end for a noble life. Aeschylus says, “We should 
call him happy who has ended his life in beloved prosperity.’ 
This also was Solon’s idea as we learn from his answer to Croesus.”°° 
Diogenes Laertes relates that the same was the opinion of Antis- 
thenes**! and we find it verified in the example of Cyrus the Great 
who found his greatest consolation at the hour of death in the 
consideration of his own good fortune and the prosperous condi- 
tion of his family and country.?” 

But even happier was he considered who met his death in the 
performance of some noble action. The story of Cleobus and 
Biton?™ is used to show that the gods bestow death as a reward 
for a glorious deed, and the devotion and self-sacrifice of Alcestis 
has received the highest praise. Cassandra (Aeschylus, Agamem- 
non 1303) exclaims ‘‘there is comfort in a noble death.’ And in 
Sophocles’ Antigone the chorus consoles Antigone with the hope 
of posthumous fame because her death will be so glorious.2*> She 


249 Agam. 919. ὀλβίσαι δὲ χρὴ 
βίον τελευτήσαντ᾽ ἐν εὐεστοῖ φίλῃ. 

Cf. Campbell, frg. 583; Soph., O. T. 1529; Eur., Androm. 100. 

250 Herod., 1. 30, 32. 

251 yj, Antisth. 5. Cf. Mullach., ii. p. 292, frg. 117. 

ἐρωτηθεὶς Ti μακαριώτερον ἐν ἀνθρώποις, ἔφη, εὐτυχοῦντα 

ἀποθανεῖν. 

252 Xen., Cyrop. viil. vil. 7, 27. 

253 Herod., i. 31 Cf. ps.-Plat., Ax. 367C; Plut., ad. Apoll. 108F; 
Polyb., xxii. 20; Cic., T. Ὁ. i. xlvii. 

254 Cf, Hom., Il. xxii. 304; Eur., Hec. 518ff.; Phoen. 991; Troad. 
394. | 

GAN’ εὐκλεῶς τοι κατθανεῖν χάρις βροτῷ. 


255 Antig. 817, 834ff. Cf. Bacchy., viii. 760-87; Ibid. xii. 63. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 61 


had previously expressed her own sentiments when she said (1.97) 
“T shall not suffer anything so terrible as an ignoble death.’’** 

Of all glorious deaths none could be compared to the death for 
country, for among the Greeks patriotism occupied a very promi- 
nent place as a moral duty of the highest order.?*’ Its influence 
was felt through every fibre of the moral and intellectual life. A 
necessary consequence of this attitude was the willingness with 
which men sacrificed their lives for their country.2*® The hopes 
of a lasting memorial and a glorious reputation among men com- 
pensated for the loss of life. This thought naturally led to the 
development of topics of consolation which found their most 
elaborate form in the funeral orations which were used as a means 
to honor the brave dead and to encourage and console those whom 
they had left.*°® Examples of these are extant from Gorgias, 
Thucydides, Xenophon, Isocrates, Hyperides and one each under 
the names of Lysias, Plato and Demosthenes. The subject of 
these orations was generally the same—a eulogy on the dead, 
their country and their ancestors, motives of comfort to their 
relations from the renown they had acquired, the honor paid them 
by the state, their reception in the lower world and the care the 
state would take of their parents and families. This was followed 
by an exhortation to the living to submit to their destiny as 
heroically as the fallen warriors had done. 

Throughout Greek literature we find many motives given to 
encourage the patriot in his self-sacrifice and to furnish comfort 
and consolation for his family and relatives. Among them we 
may distinguish the following: 

The children belong less to their parents than to the city. The 
power exercised by this motive in inspiring patriotism is exempli- 
fied in the case of Iphigenia (Eur., I. A. 1386), offering herself as a 
victim for her country in spite of the natural repugnance she, like 
all Greek women, felt at the horror of dying unwed. She consoles 
her mother by reminding her, “you have brought me forth for the 
common good of Greece, not for yourself alone . . . (1397). 

256 


πείσομαι yap ov 
τοσοῦτον οὐδὲν ὥστε μὴ οὐ καλῶς θανεῖν. 
257 Coulanges, Bk. iii. Stob., ii. 39. 
Cic., de Off. I. xvii. 57. 
᾿ 259 Polybius, vi, liii, liv. describes the effect of such panegyrics 
on the Romans. 


62 The Consolations of Death 


I give my body for Greece; sacrifice it and destroy Troy. For 
this for a long time will be my memorial, and this my children, my 
wedding and my glory.’’*°° Again she repeats it (1.1502): 
*“You have nurtured me as a safety for Greece, I shall not refuse 
to die.’’?*+ 

This same sentiment sounds the inspiring note of Tyrtaeus’ 
battle song: ““Come O youth! of noble Sparta, of warrior fathers! 
On the left throw forward your shield, and on the right brandish 
bravely your spear. Do not spare your lives, for it is not the 
hereditary custom for Sparta.’**? The pseudo-Platonic Epistle 
(ix) furnishes an expression of this ideal. ‘Each one of us is not 
born for himself alone, our country claims one part of our birth, 
our parents another.” . . .*% Demosthenes shows that this was 
the attitude of the Athenians. “‘Each of them considered that 
he was not born for his father and mother only but also for his 
country. 

What is the difference? He that thinks himself born for his 
parents only, waits for his appointed and natural end; he that 
thinks himself born for his country also, will sooner perish than 
behold her in slavery and will regard the insults and indignities 
which must be borne in an enslaved state as more terrible than 
death.”’?4 


260 πᾶσι γάρ μ᾽ Ἑλλησι κοινὸν ἔτεκες, οὐχὶ σοὶ μόνῃ. 


δίδωμι σῶμα τοὐμον Ἑλλάδι. 
Over’, ἐκπορθεῖτε Τροίαν. ταῦτα yap μνημεῖά pov 
διὰ μακροῦ, καὶ παῖδες οὗτοι καὶ γάμοι καὶ δόξ᾽ ἐμή. 
21 ἐβθρέψαθ᾽ Ἑλλάδι με φάος" 
θανοῦσα δ᾽ οὐκ ἀναίνομαι. 

262 Bergk, ii. Tyrtaeus, 15. (11.) 
"Aver ,@ Σπάρτας evavdpov 
κοῦροι πατέρων πολιατᾶν, λαιᾷ μέν ἴτυν προβάλεσθε, 
δόρυ δ᾽ εὐτόλμως (βάλλετε) μὴ φειδόμενοι τᾶς ζωᾶς᾽ 
οὐ γὰρ πάτριον Ta Σπάρτᾳ. 

263 Kip. ix. 88Α. ἕκαστος ἡμῶν οὐχ αὑτῷ μόνον γέγονεν, ἀλλὰ 
τῆς YEVETEWS ἡμῶν τὸ μέν τι ἡ πατρὶς μερίζεται, τὸ δέ τι, οἱ γεν- 
νήσαντες᾽ τὸ δὲ, οἷ λοιποὶ φίλοι. 

Cf. Plato, Crito 50E, 51A; Bergk, ii, Sim. 92 (151); Mein., iv. 
p. 346 1.216; Cic., T. D. i. xlviii, i, xxiv; ad Catil. i. vii; de 
Off. i. vii. 22. 

264 de Cor. 205. ἡγεῖτο yap αὐτῶν ἕκαστος, οὐχὶ τῷ πατρὶ καὶ 
τῇ μητρὶ μόνον γεγενῆσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ πατρίδι. διαφέρει δὲ 
τί; ὅτι ὁ μὲν τοῖς γονεῦσι μόνον γεγενῆσθαι νομίζων τὸν τῆς εἱμαρ- 


In Ancient Greek Literature 63 


Naturally consequent on this thought is the motive, that the 
sacrifice of life is the payment of the debt due to one’s country. Speak- 
ing of the brave dead Lysias brings out this—“they have died as 
heroes ought to die paying the country the price of their educa- 
tion.”’?6 

For the Greeks the consolation that they derived from the 
accomplishment of their duty was greatly heightened by the hope 
that their death would increase the glory of the state. This is 
expressed in simple but lofty and inspiring words in the Epitaph 
on the Lacedaemonian dead. “These men having set a crown of 
imperishable glory on their beloved land are folded in the dark 
cloud of death.’’2°* No less noble is the one on the Athenian 
dead—*“* . . . for hastening to set a crown of freedom on 
δ, . ..3.» 

Further consolation was derived from the thought that death 
for country was the most glorious and noble of deaths. Hector 
(Iliad, xv. 494), uses it to urge on his followers: “But assembled 
together, fight by the ships and whoever of you is smitten by dart 
and meets his fate and death, let him die. For we do not die 
dishonorably fighting for our country.”*** The epitaph on the 
Athenian dead quoted above breathes the same sentiment: “If 


μένης καὶ τὸν αὐτόματον θάνατον περιμένει, ὁ δὲ καὶ TH πατρίδι, 
ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ ταύτην ἐπιδεῖν δουλεύουσαν, ἀποθνῇσκειν ἐθελήσει, 
καὶ θοφερωτέρας ἡ γήσετάι τὰς ὕβρεις καὶ τὰς ἀτιμίας, ἅς ἐν δου- 
λευούσῃ τῇ πόλει φέρειν ἀν ἀγκη. 

265 Epitaph. (2.) 70. ἐτελεύτησαν δὲ τὸν βίον, ὥσπερ χρὴ τοὺς 
ἀγαθοὺς ἀποθνῇσκειν, τῇ μὲν γὰρ πατρίδι τὰ τροφεῖα ἀποδόντες, 
τοῖς δὲ θρέψασι λύπας καταλιπόντες. 

Cf. Soph. O. T. 323; Polyb. iii.cix. 12. 

266 Bergk iii. Sim. 99. (154.) 

᾿Άσβεστον κλέος οἵδε φίλῃ περὶ πατρίδι θέντες 
κυάνεον θανάτου ἀμφεβαλόντο νέφος" 

οὐδὲ τεθνᾶσι θανόντες, ἐπεί σφ᾽ ἀρετὴ καθύπερθεν 
κυδαίνουσ᾽ ἀνάγει δώματος ἐξ ᾿Αἴδεω. 

267 Thid. 100. (153.) 

Ei τὸ καλῶς θνήσκειν ἀρετῆς μέρος ἐστὶ μέγιστον, 

ἡμῖν ἐκ πάντων τοῦτ᾽ ἀπένειμε τύχη᾽ 
Ἑλλάδι γὰρ σπεύδοντες ἐλευθερίην περιθεῖναι 

κείμεθ᾽ ἀγηράντῳ χρώμενοι εὐλογίῃ. 
ἀλλὰ μάχεσθ᾽ ἐπὶ νηυσὶν ἀολλέες ὃς δέ κεν ὑμέων 
βλήμενος ἠὲ τυπεὶς θάνατον καὶ πότμον ἐπίσπῃ, 
τεθνάτω᾽ οὔ οἱ ἀεικὲς ἀμυνομένῳ περὶ πάτρης 
τεθνάμεν" 


268 


64 The Consolations of Death 7 


to die nobly is the chief part of excellence to us of all men fortune 
gave this lot. . . . 299. Alcaeus expresses it in few words—“It 
is noble for a warrior to die.”’?”° 

After having experienced all the horrors of war, Cassandra 

(Euripides, Troades 400), advises one to avoid it if possible, but — 
she adds, “‘if it come to this, it is no base crown to die nobly for 
the city.”*7!- The same author (Hecuba 346) shows Polyxena 
freely offering to meet her doom—“I will follow thee both on 
account of the decree of fate and even desiring to die; but if I 
were not willing I should appear base and too fond of life. 
Lead on, Odysseus.”?72 And again he has the chorus (Heraclidae 
618) using the glory resulting from the self-sacrifice of Macaria 
as a source of consolation: “Do not, falling down, bear thus the 
things sent by the gods and do not grieve excessively; for she, 
wretched one, has a noble share of death in behalf of her brother 
and her country. Nor will an inglorious reputation among men 
await her; virtue ascends through toils.’’2” 

This τόπος is employed in the funeral orations of Thucydides 
and Lysias; and, as was the case in the example last quoted, it is 
used as a means of comforting the mourners. Pericles (Thucydides 
ii. 44) thus addresses them: “As many of their parents are as 
present I address with words of encouragement rather than of 
condolence. . . . For they know that the life of man is troubled 
by the various changes of fortune; but fortunate are they who 
draw for their lot a death as glorious as that which these now 


269 Cf. note 267. 
270 Bergk, iii. Aleaeus 30. *’Apevi κατθάνην κάλον. Cf. Hor., 


att εἰ δ᾽ és τόδ᾽ ἔλθοι, στέρανος οὐκ αἰσχρὸς πόλει 
καλῶς ὀλέσθαι, 
312 ὡς ἕψομαί γε τοῦ 7 ἀναγκαίου χάριν 


θανεῖν τε χρήζουσ᾽ ᾿ εἰ δὲ μὴ βουλήσομαι, 
“κακὴ φανοῦμαι καὶ φιλόψυχος γυνή. 


ἄγου μ᾽, 
art ἀλλὰ σὺ μὴ προπίτνων τὰ θεῶν φέρε, μηδ᾽ ὑπεράλγει 
φροντίδα λύπα᾽ 
εὐδόκιμον γὰρ ἔχει θανάτου μέρος a μελέα πρό τ᾽ ἀδελφῶν 
καὶ yas 
οὐδ᾽ ἀκλεής νιν δόξα πρὸς ἀνθρώπων ὑποδέξεται" 
ἁ δ᾽ ἀρετὰ βαίνει διὰ μόχθων. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 65 


have . . . to whom life has been so measured out as to be 
happy in it and to terminate it in like manner.”?% And in thesame 
strain Lysias (Oration 2, 78), offers words of consolation: “Now 
old age and sickness overcome nature; and fate, the arbiter of our 
destinies, is inexorable, so we ought to consider those most happy 
who end their days by risking their lives in the greatest and most 
noble deeds, not turning away from their own fortune, nor await- 
ing an ordinary death but choosing the most noble.’’?"*> Plutarch 
_ quotes Epaminondas as having said, “He who dies in war is the 
most honorable.” 276 

The nobility of the warrior’s death is enhanced by the fact that 
his fate is deserving of admiration, even of envy. 

Euripides, in whose writings the sentiment of patriotism is 
strongly marked, gives us several examples of heroic devoion to 
country, among them the splendid one of Menoeceus. The 
courage to meet death, which his example imparts, is shown in the 
glowing words of the Chorus: “We admire, yes, we admire him 
who has gone to death for the sake of his land, to Creon indeed 
having left lamentation, but about to make the seven-towered 
gates of the land greatly victorious. Thus may we be mothers, 
thus may we be blessed in our children.”?"7_ Lysias dwells on this 
τόπος in his funeral oration. “‘These men both when they sere 

living and also after their death are worthy of envy”* . . . the 


274 rods τῶνδε viv τοκέας, ὅσοι πάρεστε, οὖκ ὀλοφύρομαι μᾶλλον 
ἢ παραμυθήσομαι ἐν πολυτρόποις γὰρ ξυμφοραῖς ἐπίστανται 
τραφέντες τόδ᾽ εὐτυχές, οἱ ἂν τῆς εὐπρεπεστάτης λάχωσιν, ὥσπερ 
οἵδε μὲν νῦν, τελευτῆς, ὑμεῖς δὲ λύπης, καὶ οἷς ἐνευδαιμονῆσαί τε ὁ 
βίος ὁμοίως καὶ ἐντελευτῆσαι ξυνεμετρήθη. 

216 yoy δὲ ἥ τε φύσις καὶ νόσων ἥττων καὶ γήρως, ὅ τε δαίμων ὁ τὴν 
ἡμετέραν μοῖραν εἰληχὼς ἀπαραίτητος. ὥστε προσήκει τούτους 
εὐδαιμονεστάτους ἡγεῖσθαι, οἵτινες ὑπὲρ μεγίστων καὶ καλλίστων 
κινδυνεύσαντες οὕτω τὸν βίον ἐτελεύτησαν, οὖκ ἐπιτρέψαντες περὶ 
αὑτῶν τῇ τύχῃ, οὐδ᾽ ἀναμείναντες τὸν αὐτόματον θάνατον, ἀλλ᾽ 
ἑχλεξάμενοι τὸν κἀλλιστον. 

276199C. Ἔλεγε δὲ τὸν ἐν πολέμῳ θάνατον εἶναι κάλλιστον. 

277 Phoen. 1054. ἀγάμεθ᾽ ἀγάμεθ᾽, 

és ἐπὶ θάνατον οἴχεται yas ὑπὲρ TaTpwas 
Κρέοντι μὲν λιπὼν γόους, τὰ & ἑπτάπυργα κλῇθρα γᾶς 
καλλίνικα θήσων. γενοίμεθ᾽ ὧδε ματέρες, 
γενοίμεθ᾽ εὔτεκνοι, 
278 Or. 2.69. οὗτοι δὲ καὶ ζῶντες καὶ ἀποθανόντες ζηλωτοί 


66 The Consolations of Death 


honors which they received are envied by everybody .27 . . . I 
consider them happy and their death seems to me worthy of 
envy.78° 


A further source of consolation is contained in the thought that 
death for country is a blessing and a mark of favor of the gods since 
Ares spares the coward not the brave.”*! 

Even in Hades we find the shade of Agamemnon congratulating 
Achilles on his good fortune in being cut off in battle. “Happy 
art thou, son of Peleus, godlike Achilles, who didst die in the land 
of Troy, far from Argos; and about thee fell others, the best sons 
of the Trojans and the Achaeans, fighting for thy body.”?82. That 
the gods had not so favored his master was a subject of regret to 
Eumaeus. “I myself well know, concerning my lord’s return, 
that he was exceedingly hated by all the gods that they did not 
not slay him among the Trojans nor in the arms of his friends when 
he had terminated the war.’’*** The same sentiment animated 
Odysseus himself when he felt he had survived the war only to 
fall a prey to Poseidon: “Thrice blessed those Danaans, yea four 
times blessed, who perished at that time in wide Troy for the sake 
of the sons of Atreus.’’?* 

‘Hecuba (Euripides, Troades 1167), weeping over the son of her 
beloved Hector regrets that the gods had not granted him the 
glorious destiny of dying for his country: “Ὁ dearest one, how 
unfortunate a death has come to thee! For if thou hadst died in 


279 Ibid. 79. ζηλωταὶ δὲ ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ai τιμαί" 
280 Τ014. 81. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν αὐτοὺς καὶ μακαρίζω τοῦ θανάτου καὶ 
ζηλῶ, ᾿ 

281 Bergk, iii. Anac. 101. (Ep. 14.) 

"Αρῆης δ᾽ οὐκ ἀγαθῶν φείδεται, ἀλλὰ κακῶν. 

282 Odyss. xxiv. 86. ὄλβιε Πηλέος υἱὲ, θεοῖς ἐπιείκελ᾽ ᾿Αχιλλεῦ, 
ὃς θάνες ἐν Τροίῃ ἑκὰς ’Apyeos’ ἀμφὶ δέ σ᾽ ἄλλοι 
κτείνοντο Τρώων καὶ ᾿Αχαιῶν υἷες ἄριστοι, 
μαρνάμενοι περὶ σεῖο" 

288 Tbid. xiv. 365. ἐγὼ δ᾽ εὖ οἶδα καὶ αὐτὸς 
νόστον ἐμοῖο ἄνακτος, ὅ τ᾽ ἤχθετο πᾶσι θεοῖσι 
πάγχυ pan’, ὅττι μιν οὔ τι μετὰ Τρώεσσι δάμασσαν 
ἠὲ φίλων ἐν χερσὶν, ἐπεὶ πόλεμον τολύπευσε. 

284 Thid. ν. 306. 
τρισμάκαρες Δαναοὶ καὶ τετράκις, οἱ τότ᾽ ὄλοντο 
Tpoin ἐν εὐρείη χάριν ᾿Ατρείδῃσι φέροντες. 

Cf. Verg., Aen. 1. 94. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 67 


behalf of the city having attained to youth and met with marriage 
and godlike power, thou wouldst have been blessed.’’?%* 

One of the motives which had special power of inspiration and 
which consoled the patriot for the sacrifice of his life, was the 
certainty that he would be honored with the due rites of burial. 
No stronger motive could be adduced than this,”** because among 
the ancient Greeks there was a deep-seated conviction that, with- 
out proper sepulture for the body, the soul wandered about 
homeless and in misery.2*7 The pomp and glory attending a 
public burial appealed to them in a particular manner. 

The anguish and horror caused by the thought of being deprived 
of sepulture is seen in the case of Odysseus threatened by 
death at sea, when on his homeward journey. “Would that I 
too had died and met my fate on that day when the crowd of 
Trojans cast their brass-tipped spears upon me dying for the son 
of Peleus. So should I have received my dues of burial and the 
Achaeans would have spread my fame, but now it is fated for me 
to be seized by a pitiful death.”’?** In the meeting of Achilles and 
Agamemnon in Hades the former sympathizes with his friend 
because he had been spared in war only to suffer a most ignoble 
death on his home-coming, and had been deprived of the glorious 
burial which would have been some compensation for his death. 
“Would that, having enjoyed the honor of which thou wast lord, 
thou hadst met death and fate among the Trojans. The Achaeans 


ae ὦ φίλταθ᾽, ὥς σοι θάνατος ἦλθε δυστυχής. 
εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἔθανες πρὸ πόλεως, ἥβης τυχὼν 
γάμων τε καὶ τῆς ἰσοθέου τυραννίδος, 
μακάριος ἦσθ᾽ ἂν, εἴ τι τῶνδε μακάριον. Cf. Eur., Androm. 
1182. 

286 Kuripides’ plays Antigone and Suppliants show the import- 
ance attached to proper burial. Cf. Troades 735, where Talthy- 
bius warns Andromache that the Greeks will punish her resist- 
ance by not allowing burial for her child. Soph., Ai. 1129; Eur., 
Hec. 50. 

287 Cf. Coulanges, loc. cit., n. 236 and Tarbell: “Greek Ideas 
as to the Effect of Burial on the Soul,” Trans. Am. Philol. 
Ass., 1884, vol. xv, pp. 36 ff. 

288 Odyss. v. 308. 

ὡς δὴ ἔγώὠ γ᾽ ὄρελον θανέειν καὶ πότμον ἐπισπεῖν 
ἤματι τῷ ὅτε μοι πλεῖστοι χαλκήρεα δοῦρα 
Τρῶες ἐπέρῥιψαν περὶ Πηλείωνι θανόντι. 

τῷ x’ ἔλαχον κτερέων, καί μευ κλέος ἦγον ᾿Αχαιοί. 
νῦν δέ we λευγαλέῳ θανάτῳ εἵμαρτο ἁλῶναι. 


68 The Consolations of Death 


would have made for thee a tomb and for thy son there would be 
great renown.’8® Homer again brings out the same point in 
the case of Telemachus, who feels his grief for his father would 
be lessened if he knew he had fallen in battle and had received 
the rites of burial from his friends. “Really I would not have 
thus grieved for his death if he had fallen among his fellows in 
the land of Troy or in the arms of his friends when he had finished 
the war. The Achaeans would have built him a tomb and for 
his son there would be a great renown.’’2°° Like Telemachus, 
Orestes (Aeschylus, Choephori 345) laments that he had not the 
consolation of having his father die in battle and receive suitable 
sepulture. “For if, my father, thou hadst been slain beneath 
Ilion by the spear of some Lycian, thou wouldst have left fair re- 
nown in the house and in the path of thy children; thou wouldst 
have founded for them a crowned life and thou wouldst have had 
a high-mounded barrow on a land beyond the sea, a thing easy to 
bear for the house.”’??! 

The consolation offered by this τόπος is seen in the pathetic 
epitaph for the young lives so freely sacrificed at Chalcis: “We 
fell under the clefts of Dirphys and a memorial is raised over us 
by our country near the Euripus, not unjustly, for we lost lovely 
youth facing the rough cloud of war.’?* And Euripides also 
employs it, in Troades 386, where Cassandra, speaking of the 


289 Thid. xxiv. 30. ὡς ὄφελες τιμῆς ἀπονήμενος, ἧς περ ἄνασσες, 
δήμῳ ἔνι Τρώων θάνατον καὶ πότμον ἐπισπεῖν" 
τῷ κέν τοι τύμβον μὲν ἐποίησαν Παναχαιοὶ, 
ἠδέ κε καὶ σῷ παιδῖ μέγα κλέος ἤρατ᾽ ὀπίσσω. 
290 Thid. i. 236. ἐπεὶ οὔ κε θανόντι περ ὧδ᾽ ἀκαχοίμην, 
εἰ μετὰ οἷς ἑτάροισι δάμη Τρώων ἐνὶ δήμῳ, 
ἠὲ φίλων ἐν χερσὶν, ἐπεὶ πόλεμον τολύὐπευσε. 
τῷ κέν οἱ τύμβον μὲν ἐποίησαν Ilavaxacol 
ἠδέ κε καὶ ᾧ παιδὶ μέγα κλέος ἤρατ᾽ ὀπίσσω. 
at ei yap ὑπ᾽ ᾿Ιλίῳ 
πρός τινος Auxiov, πάτερ, δορίτμητος κατηναρίσθης, 
λιπὼν ἂν εὔκλειαν ἐν δόμοισιν τέκνων τ᾽ ἐν κελεύθοις 
ἐπιστρεπτὸν αἰῶ κτίσσας πολύχωστον ἂν εἶχες 
τάφον διαποντίου γᾶς δώμασιν εἰφόρητον. 
292 Bergk, Anth. Lyr. Sim. 89. (148.) 
Δίρφυος ἐδμήθημεν ὑπὸ πτυχί, σῆμα δ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν 
ἐγγύθεν Ἑὐρίπου δημοσίᾳ κέχυται, 
οὐκ ἀδίκως ἐρατὴν γὰρ ἀπωλέσαμεν νεότητα 
τρηχεῖαν πολέμου δεξάμενοι νεφέλην. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 69 


Trojan heroes, thus addresses her mother: “But the Trojans in 
the first place died in defence of their country, which is the highest 
renown, and the corpses of those whom the spear destroyed, 
carried to their homes by their friends, have received an enclosure 
of earth in their fatherland, decked by the hands of those whom 
it was meet.”?% The same author (Heraclidae 586) represents 
this as the only favor which Macaria desired as a return for the 
sacrifice of her life. “If a release from troubles and a return 
should ever be found for you through the gods, remember to bury 
her who saves you as is fitting; most nobly would be just, for I 
was not wanting to you but died for my race. This is my heir- 
loom, instead of children and virginity.”?™ 

In his Republic, Plato, out of conservatism in matters of religion, 
prescribes that the will of Apollo should be followed in honoring 
the brave dead. ‘Must we learn of the god how heroic and 
divine men are to be buried and with what distinction and we 
shall do as he bids . . . and in ages to come shall we reverence 
their tombs and kneel before them as at the graves of heroes?”’?% 

In several of the funeral orations this reward of a public burial 
is offered as a consolation to the mourners. 

“Tt is a grievous thing,’ Demosthenes admits, “for a father 
and mother to be bereaved of their children, and to be deprived 
of the dearest supports of their old age; but it is a splendid thing 
to see them possessing eternal honors and a public memorial of 


= Τρῶες δὲ πρῶτον μέν, TO κάλλιστον κλέος, 

ὑπὲρ πάτρας ἔθνῃσκον᾽ ois δ᾽ ἕλοι δόρυ, 
νεκροί γ᾽ ἐς οἴκους φερόμενοι φίλων ὕπο 
ἐν Yn πατρῷᾳ περιβολὰς εἶχον χθονός, 
χερσὶν περισταλέντες ὧν Expnv iro 

be κἂν ἀπαλλαγὴ πόνων 

καὶ νόστος ὑμῖν εὑρεθῇ ποτ᾽ ἐκ θεῶν, 
μέμνησθε τὴν σώτειραν ὡς θάψαι χρεών. 
κἀλλιστά τοι δίκαιον᾽ οὐ γὰρ ἐνδεὴς 
ὑμῖν παρέστην, ἀλλὰ προύθανον γένους. 
Ta0’ ἀντὶ παίδων ἐστί μοι κειμήλια 
καὶ παρθενείας. 

257. 469A. Διαπυθόμενοι ἄρα τοῦ θεοῦ, πῶς χρὴ τοὺς δαιμο- 
νίους τε καὶ θείους τιθέναι καὶ τίνι διαφόρῳ, οὕτω καὶ ταύτῃ θήσομεν 
ἢ ἂν ἐξηγῆται; . .. καὶ τὸν λοιπὸν δὴ χρόνον ὡς δαιμόνων, οὕτω 
θεραπεύσομέν τε καὶ προσκυνήσομεν αὐτῶν τὰς θήκας; Cf. Ibid. 


465E; Cic., Phil. ix. i. 


70 The Consolations of Death 


their valor and considered worthy of sacrifice and perpetual 
games? . . . since in their bodies they will not suffer diseases, 
and in their souls they will be free from those troubles which the 
living experience in times of misfortune; and their last obsequies 
are now paid to them with all due honor and solemnity. How 
can we fail to regard them as happy, to whom the whole country 
gives a public burial . . . ??’297 

Commemorating the fallen heroes, Lysias says, “They are buried 
at the expense of the State; there are celebrated at their tombs 
games in which strength, wisdom and wealth shine since they are 
worthy; for those who die in war are honored with the same honors 
as the gods.’’*°§ Special mention of the games is also made in the 
Menexenus: “‘(The State) never fails to honor these dead every 
year. It performs what has been appointed for all in common; 
and what has been appointed for the individual for each, and in 
addition to this it appoints games both gymnastic and equestrian 
and all kinds of poetry . . .”’?9 

A stimulus that was scarcely less effective for the patriot than 
the preceding motive was the hope of an imperishable glory and an 
immortal renown.°® A number of illustrations of this may be 


? 


296 Fun. Or. 1400. χαλεπὸν πατρὶ καὶ μητρὶ παίδων στερῆθναι 
καὶ ἐρήμοις εἴναι τῶν οἰκειοτάτων γηροτρόρων᾽ σεμνὸν δέ γ᾽ 
ἀγήρως τιμὰς καὶ μνήμην ἀρετῆς δημοσίᾳ κτησαμένους ἰδεῖν, καὶ 
θυσιῶν καὶ ἀχώνων ἦξι wpev ous ἀθνάτων. 

291 Tbid. 13899. ἔπειτα νόσων ἀπαθεῖς τὰ σώματα καὶ λυπῶν 
ἄπειροι τὰς Ψυχάς, ἃς ἐπὶ τοῖς συμβεβηκόσιν οἱ ζῶντες ἔχουσιν, ἐν 
μεγάλῃ τιμῇ καὶ καὶ πολλῷ ζήλῳ τῶν νομιζομένων τυγχάνουσιν. 
ois yap ἅπασα μὲν ἡ πατρὶς θάπτει δημοσίᾳ, κοινῶν δ᾽ ἐπαίνων 
μόνοι τυγχάνουσι, ποθοῦσι δ᾽ οὐ μόνον συγγενεῖς καὶ πολῖται, ἀλλὰ 
πᾶσαν ὅσην ἙἭ λλάδα χρὴ προσειπεῖν, συμπεπένθηκε δὲ καὶ τῆς 
οἰκουμένης τὸ πλεῖστον μέρος, πῶς οὐ χρὴ τούτους εὐδαίμονας 
νομίζεσθαι; Cf. Cons., ad Liv. 460. 

298 Or. 2.80. καὶ γάρ τοι θάπτονται δημοσίᾳ, καὶ ἀγῶνες Ti- 
θενται ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς ῥώμης καὶ σοφίας καὶ πλούτου, ὡς ἀξίους ὄντας 
τοὺς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τετελευτηκότας ταῖς αὐταῖς τιμαῖς καὶ τοὺς 
ἀθανάτους τιμᾶσθαι. 

299 ns-Plat., Menex. 249B. αὐτοὺς δὲ τοὺς τελευτήσαντας τι- 
μῶσα οὐδέποτε ἐκλείπει καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν, αὕτη τὰ νομιζόμενα 
ποιοῦσα κοινῇ πᾶσιν ἅπερ ἰδίᾳ ἑκάστῳ ἰδίᾳ γίγνεται. πρὸς δὲ 
τούτοις ἀγωνᾶς γυμνικοὺς καὶ ἱππικοὺς τιθεῖσα, καὶ μουσικῆς 
πάσης. . .. Cf. Ibid. 234C. 

300 Cf. Hom., Il. vi. 449; Bacchy., viii. 76, 87; xu. 63; Cic., 
Phil. ix. 11. ff. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 71 


taken from the lyric poets especially from the epigrams—expres- 
sions of unequalled pathos with a depth of consolation which is 
implied rather than expressed. Tyrtaeus expresses it in forcible 
language, ““Him they bemoan both young and old and the whole 
city is distressed with dreadful grief. . . . Never will his 
good name or his renown perish, but going under the earth he 
becomes immortal.’ In Pindar we have: “Let him know this 
well, who bearing ruin to the enemy, wards off slaughter from his 
dear country, that living, and, even after death, he will be honored 
with the greatest renown by the citizens.’*° Callinus: “Little 
and great mourn for him if he die.’’*° Anacreon: “‘Around his 
funeral pyre the whole city weeps for Agathon, who died for the 
people of Aldera.’’*® Mnasalcas: “These men defending their 
native land, that lay with tearful fetters on her neck, clad them- 
selves in the dark dust; but they have gained a great reputation of 
valour; looking at them let a citizen dare to die for his country.’ 
Aeschylus: “These men also steadfast in fighting, dark Fate de- 
stroyed when defending their native land rich in flocks; but al- 


301 Bergk, ii. Tyrtaeus 12. (8.) 27. 
τὸν δ᾽ ᾿ολοφύρονται μὲν ὁμῶς νέοι ἠδὲ γέροντες, 
ἀργαλέῳ τε πόθῳ πᾶσα κέκηδε πόλις" 
καὶ τύμβος καὶ παῖδες ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἀρίσημοι 
καὶ παίδων παῖδες καὶ γένος ἐξοπίσω. 
οὐδὲ ποτε κλέος ἐσθλὸν ἀπόλλυται οὐδ᾽ ὄνομ᾽ αὐτοῦ, 
ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὸ γῆς περ ἐὼν γίγνεται ἀθάνατος, 
Cf. Cons., ad Liv. 265. 
302 Bergk, iii. Pin. Isth. vii. 27. 
ἴστω yap σαφές, ὅστις Ev Tal’Ta νεφέλᾳ χάλαζαν αἵματος 
πρὸ φίλας πάτρας ἀμύνεται, 
λοιγὸν ἀντιρέρων ἐνατίῳ στρατῷ, 
ἀστῶν γενεᾷ μέγιστον κλέος αὔξων. 
ζώων τ᾽ ἀπὸ καὶ θανών. 
808 Bergk, ii. Callinus 1. (1.) 17. 
τὸν δ᾽ ὀλίγος στενάχει καὶ μέγας, ἤ τι πάθῃ" 
804 Thid. iii. Anacreon 100. (Ep. 15.) 
᾿Αβδήρων προθανόντα τὸν aivoBinvy Αγάθωνα 
πᾶσ᾽ ἐπὶ πυρκαϊης ἥδ᾽ ἐβόησε πόλις" 
οὔτινα γὰρ τοιόνδε νέων ὁ φιλαίματος ᾿᾿Αρης 
ἠνάρισεν στυγερῆς ἑν στροφάλιγγι μάχης. 
806 Anth. Pal. vii. 242. Mnasalcas. 
οἵδε πάτραν, πολύδακρυν ἐπ᾽ αὐχένι δεσμὸν ἔχουσαν, 
᾽ρυόμενοι δνοφερὰν ἀμφεβάλοντο κόνιν, 
"Αρνυνται δ᾽ ἀρετᾶς αἶνον μέγαν. ἀλλά τις ἀστῶν 
τοὐσδ᾽ ἐσιδὼν θνάσκειν τλάτω ὑπὲρ πατρίδος. 


72 The Consolations of Death 


though they are dead, their glory is alive.’’*°* Simonides of Ceos: 
= . we lie possessing praise which grows not old.’ 
‘Although they are dead they have not died, since their excellence 
praising them from above leads them from the house of Hades.’?% 

This motive for consolation with many of the foregoing ones 
is expressed in language that can scarcely be surpassed in the noble 
and lofty lines of Simonides on the heroes of Thermopylae. Such 
was the inborn patriotism of the Greek that his highest aspiration 
was filled, the loss of his life was compensated for, his descendants 
were consoled by the fact that his burial place was regarded as 
sacred as a shrine®® and his winding sheet was the deep grief and 
continual remembrance of his fellow citizens. “Τῆς fate of those 
who died at Thermopylae is renowned, their destiny beautiful, 
their burial mound is an altar, instead of lamentation there is 
remembrance and grief is their praise. Neither decay nor all- 
subduing time shall ruin such a winding sheet. This shrine of 
brave men has received the glory of Greece to dwell there. And 
Leonidas, the Spartan king, bears witness having left great περ 
ment of valour and eternal ρίουν. 410 

Euripides has Iphigenia use this hope of future glory to 
strengthen her own resolution and to give consolation to her 
mother. ‘My renown that I have freed Greece will be blessed.’’?!! 


806 Thid. vii. 255; Aeschy. vii. 255. 
xvaven καὶ Tovaode peveyxeas ὥλεσεν ἄνδρας. 
μοῖρα πολύρρηνον πατρίδα '᾽ρυομένους᾽ 
ζωὸν δὲ φθιμένων πέλεται κλέος, οἵ ποτε γυίοις 
τλήμονες ᾽᾿Οσσαίαν ἀμφιέσαντο κόνιν. 
307 Loc. cit., n. 267. 
308 Loc. cit., n. 266. | 
309 Cf, Aeschy., Cho. 106. αἰδουμένη σοι βωμὸν ὡς τύμβον πατρος. 
Eur., Alc. 995, Troad. 96; Plato, Rep. xii. 959C. 
310 Bergk, iii. Sim. 4. (9.) 
Τῶν ἐν Θερμοπύλαις θανόντων 
εὐκλεὴς μὲν ἁ τύχα, καλὸς δ᾽ ὁ πότμος, 
βωμὸς δ᾽ ὁ τάφος, πρὸ γόων δὲ μνᾶστις, ὁ δ᾽ οἶκτος ἔπαινος" 
ἐντάφιον δὲ τοιοῦτον ovT’ εὐρώς 
οὔθ᾽ ὁ πανδαμάτωρ ἀμαυρώσει χρόνος. 
ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν ὅδε σηκὸς οἰκέταν εὐδοξίαν 
Ἑλλάδος εἵλετο μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ Λεωνίδας 
ὁ Σπάρτας βασιλεύς, ἀρετᾶς μέγαν λελοιπώς 
κόσμον ἀέναον κλέος TE. 
5111 A. 1383. 
ταῦτα πάντα κατθανοῦσα ῥύσομαι, καί μου κλέος 
Ἑλλάδ᾽ ὡς ἠλευθέρωσα, μακάριον γενήσεται. 


Cf. Eur., Phoen. 1313. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 73 
Similarly he represents the Chorus offering words of comfort to 
the sorrowing Iolaus: “Nor will an inglorious reputation among 
men await her.’ 

Plato discusses the effect of this love of fame on the actions of 
ambitious men. “If you consider the love of glory which is in 
man, you would wonder at the absurdity of those things which 
I have said, unless you bear in mind and reflect how strongly they 
are affected with the desire to become renowned and to lay up 
forever undying fame. And for this they are all willing to incur 
all kinds of dangers, even more than they would for their children, 
and to expend their money, and to undergo all labors, and even 
to seek death. For do you think, said she, that Alcestis would 
have died in behalf of Admetus, or Achilles to avenge Patroclus, 
or your own Codrus to preserve the kingdom of his sons unless they 
thought they would obtain an immortal renown for valor, which 
actually does still exist among us?’ In the Republic, speaking 
of the patrict’s death, he says, ““And of those who die in battle 
whoever meets his end gloriously shall we not in the first place say 
he is of the golden race?’’#™* 

In the funeral orations the ideas furnished by this τόπος are 
treated by the orators in their usual language of panegyric. It 
appears in Isocrates as: “For we find that great souls and souls 
who love honor, not only prefer praise to such things; but would 
choose to die nobly rather than to live being anxious about honor 
rather than life; and they do all in their power that they may leave 
an immortal remembrance of themselves.’’35 


312 Loc. cit. n. 273. Cf. n. 288. 

313 Symp. 208C. ἐπεί ye καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰ ἐθέλεις εἰς τὴν 
φιλοτιμίαν βλέψαι, θαυμάζοις ἂν τῆς ἀλογίας περὶ ἃ ἐγὼ εἴρηκα, 
εἰ μὴ ἐννοεῖς ἐνθυμηθεὶς ὡς δεινῶς διάκεινται ἔρωτι τοῦ ὀνομαστοὶ 
γενέσθαι καὶ “κλέος ἐς τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον ἀθάνατον καταθέσθαι,᾽᾽ καὶ 
ὑπὲρ τούτου κινδύνους τε κινδυνεύειν ἔτοιμοι εἰσι πάντας ἔτι μᾶλλον ἢ 
ὑπὲρ τῶν παίδων, καὶ χρήματα ἀναλίσκειν καὶ πόνους πονεῖν οὗστι- 
νασοῦν καὶ ὑπεραποθνήσκειν᾽ ἐπεὶ οἴει σὺ, ἔφη, ᾿᾿Αλκηστιν ὑπὲρ 
᾿Αδμήτου ἀπόθανεῖν ἂν, ἢ ᾿Αχιλλέα Πατρόκλῳ ἐπαποθανεῖν, ἢ 
προαποθανεῖν τὸν ὑμέτερον Κόδρον ὑπὲρ τῆς βασιλείας τῶν παίδων, 
μὴ οἰομένους ἀθάνατον μνήμην ἀρετῆς πέρι ἑαυτῶν ἔσεσθαι, ἣν νῦν 
ἡμεῖς ἔχομεν; 

314 Rep. 468E. τῶν δὲ δὴ ἀποθανόντων ἐπὶ στρατείας ὃς ἄν 
εὐδοκιμήσας τελευτήσῃ ἄρ᾽ οὐ πρῶτον μὲν φήσοομεν τοῦ χρυσοῦ 
_ γένους εἶναι; 

315 Kvag. 189B. εὑρήσομεν γὰρ τοὺς φιλοτίμους καὶ μεγαλοψύχους 


74 The Consolations of Death 


In Hyperides the expression of the topic is, ““Nevertheless we 
must take courage and lighten our grief as we may, and remember 
not only the death of the departed but also the noble reputation 
that they have left behind. For they have not suffered things 
worthy of tears, but they have done deeds deserving of great 
praise. If they came not to old age among men, they have the 
glory that never grows old and have been made blessed per- 
fectly.’’*46 Demosthenes has it, ‘Their renown will be a consola- 
tion to the mourners. How can we fail to regard them as happy 
who alone receive the general praise, who are regretted not only 
by their kindred and fellow-citizens, but by all the people bearing 
the name of Greeks and whose loss afflicts the greatest part of 
the habitable world?’’*!” 

Lysias phrases it: “Their memory does not grow old and their 
honors are envied by all men.’’*!8 ‘‘Wept as mortal on account of 
their nature, they are sung as immortal on account of their 
bravery. . . .’!8 51 regard as the only mortals for whom it 
was a good to be born, men of mortal bodies who leave after 
them an immortal memory on account of their bravery.’’?° 

And in the funeral oration found in Thucydides: “‘. . . those of 
you who have passed your prime must congratulate yourselves on 
the thought that the best part of your life was fortunate and that 


τῶν ἀνδρῶν ov μόνον ἀντὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἐπαινεῖσθαι βουλομένους 
ἀλλ᾽ ἀντὶ τοῦ ζὴν ἀποθνήσκειν εὐκλεῶς αἱρουμένους, καὶ μᾶλλον 
περὶ τῆς δόξης ἢ τοῦ βίου σπουδάζοντας, καὶ πάντα ποιοῦντας, 
ὅπως ἀθάνατον τὴν περὶ αὑτῶν μνήμην καταλείψουσιν. 

316 Or. vi. 41. ὅμως δὲ χρὴ θαρρεῖν καὶ τῆς λύπης παραιρεῖν εἰς 
τὸ ἐνδεχόμενον, καὶ μεμνῆσθαι μὴ μόνον τοῦ θανάτου τῶν τετελευτη- 
κότων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἧς καταλελοίπασιν. οὐ γὰρ θρήνων 
ἄξια πεπόνθασιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπαίνων μεγάλων πεποιήκασιν. εἰ δὲ 
γήρως θνητοῦ μὴ μετέσχον, ἀλλ᾽ εὐδοξίαν ἀγήρατον εἰλήφασιν 
εὐδαίυονές τε γεγόνασι κατὰ πάντα. 

317 Fun. Or. 1399. Loc. cit. n. 297. 

318 Fun. Or. 79. 

καὶ yap ἀγήρατοι μὲν αὐτῶν αἱ μνῆμαι, ζηλωταὶ 
δὲ ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων αἱ τιμαί" 

319 Thid. 80. of πενθοῦνται μὲν διὰ τὴν φύσιν ὡς θνητοί, 

ὑμνοῦνται δὲ ὡς ἀθάνατοι διὰ τὴν ἀρετήν. 

820 7014. 81. 

καὶ μόνοις τούτοις ἀνθρώπων οἶμαι κρεῖττον 
εἶναι γενέσθαι, οἵτινες, ἐπειδὴ θνητῶν 
σωμάτων ἔτυχον, ἀθάνατον μνήμην διὰ τὴν 
ἀρετὴν αὑτῶν κατέλιπον" 


In Ancient Greek Literature 75 


the brief span that remains will be cheered by the fame of the 
departed. It is only the love of honor that never grows old; 
and honor, not gain, rejoices the heart of age. . . .**! For offer- 
ing their lives in common they received individually that renown 
which never grows old and a most honorable sepulchre, not that 
in which their bodies lie but rather that in which their glory 
remains, to be commemorated on every occasion in deed and story. 
For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; not only in their 
own country, where the column with its epitaph declares it, but in 
distant lands there is enshrined in every breast a record unwritten 
with no tablet to preserve it except that of the heart.’’5? 

The treatment of Gorgias is: ““These men then are dead, but 
the feeling of their loss is not dead with them; but immortal in 
mortal bodies it lives although they are not living.’ 

The honor bestowed upon the patriot naturally redounds to 
his family and this thought leads to another consolatory rézos: 
the patriot wins a glorious heritage for his descendants, “for hered- 
itary honor is to descendants a treasure honorable and magnifi- 
cent.”®4 The regret caused by the deprivation of this honor is 
shown in several of the preceding quotations*”> and the charioteer 
of the Euripidean Rhesus, complaining bitterly of the ignoble 
death of his master, furnishes another example. “For to die with 
glory, if one must die, I think is painful to the dying. Why 


321 Hist. 11. 44. ὅσοι δ᾽ αὖ παραβήκατε, τόν τε πλέονα κέρδος ὃν 
ἠυτυχεῖτε βίον ἡγεῖσθε καὶ τόνδε βραχὺν ἔσεσθαι, και τῇ τῶνδε 
εὐκλείᾳ κουφίζεσθε. τὸ γὰρ φιλότιμον ἀγήρων μόνον, καὶ οὐκ ἐν τῷ 
ἀχρείῳ τῆς ἡλικίας τὸ κερδαίνειν, ὥσπερ τινές φασι, μᾶλλον τέρπει, 
ἀλλὰ τὸ τιμᾶσθαι. 

822 Ibid. 48. κοινῇ γὰρ τὰ σώματα διδόντες, ἰδίᾳ τὸν ἀγήρων 
ἔπαινον ἐλάμβανον, καὶ τὸν τάφον ἐπισημότατον, οὐκ ἐν ᾧ κεῖνται 
μᾶλλον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ᾧ ἡ δόξα αὐτῶν παρὰ τῷ ἐντυχόντι αἰεὶ καὶ λόγου 
καὶ ἔργου καιρῷ ἀείμνηστος κατλείπεται. ἀνδρῶν γὰρ ἐπιφανῶν 
πᾶσα γῆ τάφος, καὶ οὐ στηλῶν μόνον ἐν τῇ οἰκείᾳ σημαίνει ἐπι- 
γραφή, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ μὴ προσηκούσῃ ἄγραφος μνῆμα παρ᾽ ἑκάστῳ 
τῆς yvapns μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦ ἔργου ἐνδιαιτᾶται. 

3283 ᾿Ε πιταφιος. τοιγαροῦν αὐτῶν ἀποθανόντων ὁ πόθος οὐ συν- 
απέθανεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀθάνατος ἐν ἀσωμάτοις σώμασι ζῇ οὐ ζώντων. 

324 ns.-Plat., Menex. 247B. εἶναι μὲν γὰρ τιμὰς γονέων ἐκγόν- 
os, καλὸς θησαυρὸς καὶ μεγαλοπρεπής Cf. Cic., Offic. i. 23. 

825 Cf. notes 289, 290, 291. 


76 The Consolations of Death 


not?—But for the living it is the pride and the fair renown of 
their house.’’®6 

Tyrtaeus in stirring words gives expression to this consolation: 
“his tomb and children will be remarkable among men and the 
children of his children and his race henceforth.’’*?” Demosthenes 
also employs it in the words of sympathy addressed to the 
mourners: “It is an afflicting thing for children to be left fatherless 
orphans but it is a glorious thing to be the inheritor of a father’s 
renown; and while we shall find the deity, to whom all mortals 
must yield, the cause of this grief, the honor and the glory are 
due to their resolution, who chose bravely to die.’’3?8 

Yet another motive of consolation, and one used especially 
by the orators, was that the advantages accruing from a noble 
death were not limited to this world but followed the patriot to 
the next. He will be received as a friend by his brave ancestors and 
will be honored in a special manner by the gods. 

In the Menexenus Socrates gives us the message the noble 
heroes sent to their descendants, “On this account then first and 
last, through all time and by all means, endeavor to have the 
desire to surpass to the utmost ourselves and ancestors in glory. 
If you pursue these objects you will come to us as friends to 
friends. . . .”’**® Xenophon in this connection says, “Justly 
would he be blessed. . . .᾽᾽ 30. And Isocrates uses it to console 
the son of Evagaras: “So that if some mortals have become 
immortal through virtue I think he is worthy of this destiny, if 
we take it as a sign that while he was living here he was more 


826 Kur., Rhesus 758. θανεῖν yap εὐκλεῶς μέν, εἰ θανεῖν χρεών, 
λυπρὸν μὲν οἶμαι τῷ θανόντι-πῶς γὰρ οὔ ᾽--- 
τοῖς ζῶσι δ᾽ ὄγκος καὶ δόμων εὐδοξία. 

327 Loc. cit., n. 301. 

828 Fun. Or. 1400. λυπηρὸν παισὶν ὀρφανοῖς γεγενῆσθαι πατρός" 
καλὸν δέ γε κληρονομεῖν πατρῴας εὐδοξίας. καὶ τοῦ μὲν λυπηροῦ 
τούτου τὸν δαίμον᾽ αἴτιον εὑρήσομεν ὄντα, ὦ φύντας ἀνθρώπους 
εἴκειν ἀνάγκη, τοῦ δὲ τιμίου καὶ καλοῦ τὴν τῶν ἐθελησάντων καλῶς 
ἀποθνῇσκειν αἵρεσιν. 

829 Menex.247A. ὧν ἕνεκα καὶ πρῶτον καὶ ὕστατον καὶ διαπαντὸς 
πᾶσαν πάντως προθυμίαν πειρᾶσθε ἔχειν, ὅπως μάλιστα μὲν ὑπερ- 
βαλεῖσθε καὶ ἡμᾶς καὶ τοὺς πρόσθεν εὐκλείᾳ... .. καὶ ἐὰν μὲν ταῦτα 
ἐπιτηδεύσητε, φίλοι παρὰ φίλους ἡμᾶς ἀφίξεσθε, ὅταν δὴ ὑμᾶς ἡ 
προσήκουσα μοῖρα κομίσῃ" 

Cf. Cons., ad Liv. 329; Senec., Polyb. ix, Marc. xxv. 

880 Ages., x. 4. 

δικαίως δ᾽ ἂν ἐκεῖνός ye μακαρίζοιτο,. .. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 77 


favored and honored than they.”**! In Hyperides, we have: “Tf 
there is feeling in the underworld, and if, as we conjecture, the 
care of the Divine Power is over it, then it is likely that they who 
have rendered aid to the worship of the gods in the hour of its 
desolation will meet with greatest favor from the deity.’’3*? 
Demosthenes uses it even more effectively: “One might well say 
that they are with the gods below, holding the same rank with 
brave men of a former age in the islands of the blest.’”’3*? 
Another motive which naturally furnishes consolation to the 
heroes is: The State will take charge of the parents and children 
of those who die in battle. Thucydides: “Their children will be 
brought up to manhood at public expense.”**4 Menexenus: 
“You yourselves surely know the carefulness of the State, that 
laying down laws concerning the children and parents of those 
who have died in war, it takes care of them.’’**> Hyperides: “‘As 
many as have left children, the State will become guardian for 
the children of these.’’*** Lysias: ““This is indeed the only favor 
we have to give to those who lie there, if we become as interested 
in their parents as they would be themselves, if we cherish their 
children as if we were their fathers, if we protect their wives as 
they would if they were living.’**? Demosthenes: “They them- 


881 Evag., 203A. ὥστ᾽ εἴ tives τῶν προγεγενηένων δι᾽ ἀρετὴν 
ἀθάνατοι γεγόνασιν, οἶμαι κἀκεῖνον ἠξιῶσθαι ταὐτης τῆς δωρεᾶς, 
σημείοις χρώμενος, ὅτι καὶ τὸν ἐνθάδε χρόνον εὐτυχέστερον καὶ 
θεοφιλέστερον ἐκείνων διαβεβίωκεν. 

882 Or., vi. 48. εἰ δ᾽ ἔστιν αἴσθησις ἐν “Αἰιδου καὶ ἐπιμέλεια παρὰ 
τοῦ δαιμονίου, ὥσπερ ὑπολαμβάνομεν, εἰκὸς τοὺς ταῖς τιμαῖς τῶν 
θεῶν καταλυομέναις βοηθήσαντας πλείστης κηδεμονίας ὑπὸ τοῦ 
δαιμονίου τυγχάνειν. 

333 Fun. Or., 1399. ois παρέδρους εἰκότως ἄν Tis φήσαι τοῖς κάτω 
θεοῖς εἴναι, τὴν αὐτὴν τἀξιν ἔχοντας τοῖς προτέροις ἀγαθοῖς ἀνδράσιν 
ἐν μακάρων νήσοις... . Cf. Cic., Somn. Scip. III. 5. 

334 Hist., ii. 46. αὐτῶν τοὺς παῖδας τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦδε δημοσίᾳ ἡ πόλις 
μέχρις ἥβης θρέψει, Cf. Theoc., Epig. xiv. 

$35 Menex., 248E. τῆς δὲ πόλεως ἴστε που καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν ἐπι- 
μέλειαν, ὅτι νόμους θεμένη περὶ τοὺς τῶν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τελευτησάντων 
παῖδάς τε καὶ γεννήτορας, ἐπιμελεῖται, 

886 "Eaitagios vi. 48. ὅσοι δὲ παῖδας καταλελοίπασιν ἡ τῆς 
πατρίδος εὔνοια ἐπίτροφος αὐτοῖς τῶν παίδων καταστήσεται. 

337 ἘΠ πιταφιος 75. μόνην δ᾽ ἄν μοι δοκοῦμεν ταύτην τοῖς ἐνθάδε 
κειμένοις ἀποδοῦναι χάριν, εἰ τοὺς μὲν τοκέας αὐτῶν ὁμοίως ὥσπερ 
ἑκεῖνοι περὶ πολλοῦ ποιοίμεθα, τοὺς δὲ παῖδας οὕτως ἀσπαζοίμεθα 
ὥσπερ αὐτοὶ πατέρες ὄντες, ταῖς δὲ γυναιξὶν εἰ τοιούτους βοηθοὺς 
ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς παρέχοιμεν, οἵοίπερ ἐκεῖνοι ζῶντες ἦσαν. 


78 The Consolations of Death 


selves (the dead heroes), if we judge rightly, are happy: for, in the 
first place, they have exchanged a short space of time for immortal 
glory; their children will be brought up with honor in the state, 
and their parents will be maintained in their old age and be 
regarded with reverence, having their renown as a consolation in 
their grief.”’3*8 

Finally the deceased are imagined as addressing words of consola- 
tion for the survivors.*®® This artifice as already seen is employed 
in the Menexenus: “But our fathers and mothers who are surviving 
must be comforted that they should bear as easily as possible their 
misfortune if any should happen, and not lament with them . 
but heal and mitigate their sorrow by reminding them the gods 
have heard what they have especially prayed for. For they did 
not pray that their children would be immortal but that they 
would be brave and renowned . . . by bearing, too, their 
misfortunes like men they will be thought to be in reality the 
parents of manly children and to be such themselves.*#° ... We 
entreat then both our fathers and mothers to spend the rest of 
their lives in adopting’this very same sentiment, and to know well 
that they will please us most by not lamenting and bewailing us; 
and if the dead have any feeling for the living they will be the least 
agreeable to us by disfiguring themselves and bearing ill their 
misfortunes.’’*4! 


338 ᾿ἘΣξπιταφιος 1399. οἱ δ᾽ εὐδαιμονες τῷ δικαίῳ λογισμῷ. πρῶτον 
μὲν ἀντὶ μικροῦ χρόνου πολὺν καὶ τὸν ἅπαντ᾽ εὔκλειαν ἀγήρω κατα- 
λείπουσιν, ἐν ἧ καὶ παῖδες οἱ τούτων ὀνομαστοὶ τραφήσονται, καὶ 
γονεῖς (οἱ τοὐτων)ὴ περίβλεπτοι γηροτροφήσονται, παραψυχὴν τῷ 
πένθει τὴν τούτων εὔκλειαυ ἔχοντες. Cf. π. 300. 

889 Loc. cit. n. 329. Cf. Lucian, de Luctu; Cic., ad Fam. iv. 5; 
ps.-Plut., ad Apoll. 121E.; Cons., ad Liv. 445; Sen., Mare. xxvi. 

840 Cf. Dem. ᾿Επιτάφιος 1400. 

341 Menex. 247C. πατέρας δὲ ἡμῶν, ois εἰσι, καὶ μητέρας εἰ χρὴ 
παραμυθεῖσθαι, ὡς χρὴ ῥᾷστα φέρειν τὴν συμφορὰν, ἐὰν ἂρα ξυμβῇ 
γενέσθαι, καὶ μὴ ξυνοδύρεσθαι". . . ᾽αλλ᾽ ἰωμένους καὶ πραὕὔνοντας, 
ἀναμιμνήσκειν αὐτοὺς ὅτι ὧν εὔχονται, τὰ μέγιστα αὐτοῖς οἱ θεοὶ 
ἐπήκοοι γεγόνασιν. οὐ γὰρ ἀθανάτους σφίσι παῖδας εὔχοντο γενέσ- 
θαι, ἀλλ᾽ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ εὐκλεεῖς᾽ ὧν ἔτυχον, μεγίστων ἀγαθῶν ὄντων. 

καὶ φέροντες μὲν ἀνδρείως τὰς συμφορὰς, δόξουσι τῷ ὄντι 
ἀνδρείων παίδων πατέρες εἶναι, καὶ αὐτοὶ τοιοῦτοι" . .. 2488. 
δεόμεθα δὴ καὶ πατέρων καὶ μητέρων, τῇ αὐτῇ ταύτῃ διανοίᾳ χρω- 
μένους τὸν ἐπίλοιπον βίον δίαγειν᾽ καὶ εἰδέναι ὅτι οὐ θρηνοῦντες 
οὐδὲ ὀλοφυρόμενοι ἡμᾶς, ἡμῖν μάλιστα χαριοῦνται᾽ ἀλλ᾽ εἴ τις’ ἐστὶ 
τοῖς τελευτηκόσιν αἴσθησις τῶν ζώντων, οὕτως ἀχάριστοι εἶεν ἂν 
μάλιστα, ἑαυτούς τε κακοῦντες, καὶ βαρέως φέροντες τὰς ξυμφοράς. 


In Ancient Greek Literature 79 


CHAPTER XII 
CONSOLATION APPROPRIATE TO PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES 


Some motives for consolation have been met which do not 
readily come under the preceding τόποι. “5 These will be briefly 
touched on here. 

Diogenes Laertes relates that Epicurus, although dying in the 
greatest suffering, found consolation from the recollection of his 
philosophical contemplations.*#* 

- Plutarch tells us that the conviction that he had never caused 
an Athenian to put on mourning was a source of comfort to 
Pericles at his last hour.** 

To the dying Cyrus the thought of his own happy life and the 
prosperous condition in which he was leaving his family and 
country was a motive for meeting death with joy.** 

It will not be inappropriate to add to the τόποι of consolation 
the touch of songs, “wise daughter of the Muses” with its power of 
comforting. 

Pindar beautifully expresses the calming influence of music. 
“Less does warm water avail to bathe the limbs for soothing, than 
words of praise wedded to the music of the lyre.’’*4® Hesiod 
similarly describes its effect in relieving sorrow, “For if anyone 
having grief in his fresh sorrowing spirit pines away grieving in 
heart, presently the minstrel, servant of the Muses, chants the 
renowned deeds of the men of yore and the gods who hold Olympus, 
and straightway he who is sorrowing forgets. . . .”%47 And 


342 Cf. Jerram’s Eur. Alec. ἢ. 1. 348, on δέμας τό cov. 

343 Diog., La. x., Epic. x. Cf. Cic., de Fin. il. xxx. 96; T. Ὁ. i. 
xlv. Sed profecto mors tum aequissimo animo oppetitur, quum 
suis se laudibus vita occidens consolari potest. 

344 An. Gr. Com. Perikles. 

345 Cf. n. 252. 

846 Bergk, i. Nem. iv. 4. 

οὐδὲ θερμὸν ὕδωρ τόσον ye μαλθακὰ τεύχει 

γυῖα, τόσσον εὐλογία φόρμιγγι συνάορος. 

347 Theog., 98. εἰ γάρ τις καὶ πένθος ἔχων νεοκηδέι θυμῷ 

ἄζηται κραδίην ἀκαχήμενος, αὐτὰρ ἀοιδὸς 
Μουσάων θεράπων κλέεα προτέρων ἀνθρώπων 
ὑμνήσῃ μάκαράς τε θεοὺς, οἱ ᾽οΟλυμπον ἔχουσιν, 
αἶψ᾽ 6 γεδυσφροσυνέων ἐπιλήθεται οὐδὲ τι κηδέων 
ἄμέμνηται᾽ ταχέως δὲ παρέτραπεδῶρα θεάων. 


Cf. Eur., Med.190. where the nurse 


80 The Consolations of Death 


Socrates, comforting the dying Axiochus, places the hearing of 
music among the pleasures to be enjoyed in the after life by the 
good.*48 In his treatise de Virtute Morali, Plutarch mentions 
the zeal of Pythagoras for music which he introduced to calm and 
soothe the soul.*4® Later in the same work he speaks of the 
musical instruments which, although inanimate, yet speak to 
man’s passions, rejoicing with him and mourning with him.**? 
Although Plato would banish from his Republic all music sugges- 
tive of lamentation and sorrow, yet he wished to preserve such 
harmonies as would help men to meet death or any other blow of 
fortune with courage and firmness.**! 


laments the use of music at festivals where there is enough to 
supply pleasure but 

atuytous δὲ βροτῶν οὐδεὶς λύπας ηὕρετο μούσῃ καὶ πολυχόρδοις 

ὠδαῖς παύειν, ἐξ ὧν θάνατοι δειναί τε τύχαι σφάλλουσι δόμους. 

848 ns.-Plato, Ax. 371D. καὶ μουσικὰ ἀκούσματα. ... ΟἿ. π. 245. 

49 441K. εἰκὸς μέν ἐστι μηδὲ Πυθαγόραν ἀγνοῆσαι, τεκμαιρο- 
μένοις τῇ περὶ μουσικὴν σπουδῇ τοῦ ἀνδρός, ἣν ἐπηγάγετο τῇ ψυχῇ 
κηλήσεως ἕνεκα καὶ παραμυθίας, 

350 443A. καὶ ὅσα μουσικῆς προσῳδὰ καὶ προσήγορα μηχανησα- 
μένης ἀνθρωπίνοις πάθεσιν ἄψυχα συνήδεται καὶ συνεπιθρηνεῖ καὶ 
συνᾷάδει καὶ συνακολασταίνει. ... 


351 Rep. i. 398E. ff. 


YC 30866 


CO4¥78193bb 


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